Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Euro 2008: Sack Cinched for Donadoni, Domenech?

Wow, Euro 2008 has turned out to be quite the coach-killer. Usually that moniker is reserved for whiny, under-achieving, ass-kissing high-end players who have the owner's ear, dog it during training and score three useless goals in a 6-0 win. Not this time. Europe's continental championships are about to claim Italy's Roberto Donadoni and France's Raymond Domenech--for starters.

Reuters reports that Italy's 2006 World Cup-winning manager Marcello Lippi is on his way back to the manager's throne, and Donadoni is about to be out. The kicker is that Donadoni apparently put the brakes on a severance package offered by the Italian federation. Donadoni was offered six months salary during negotiations should he be let go, but the former Azzurri said no thanks.
"I'm not interested in the economic side of things. If I'm no longer the coach for him, I'll go without asking for anything," Donadoni told La Gazzetta dello Sport. Wow.
Domenech, meanwhile, has Franck Ribery on his side. The Arsenal star doesn't want the France manager to get fired; neither does Patrick Vieira. Ribery says the mistakes made by Les Bleus weren't made only by the manager.

The manager says his biggest gaffe came in relying on a new generation of players, rather than going with the veterans in trying to win Euro. Domenech says he may have been guilty about looking ahead to the 2010 World Cup, and giving the youngsters a taste of the limelight.
"You have to transfer the group the spirit of the older heads who have this maturity and this experience. That was one of his functions, but there was a lack of homogeneity (between the older and younger players)."
Meanwhile, the French federation says it will decide on the coach's future on July 3. Stay tuned.

1 comment:

Tracy said...

No, that was so not true, the words coming out from Domenech's mouth. He did not ngelect the veterans. He INSISTED on the veterans. Thuram, Makalele, anyone? Who had games ranging from indifferent to bad. Thuram especially.

And speaking of young players whom he said he relied too much upon (I still don't agree), I say he chose the wrong ones at times. That game against Holland, I was screaming up and down when he brought on Gomis instead of Benzema. In addition, WHY did he not bring Mathieu Flamini and Gael Clichy to the Euro 2008? WHY? They were young players that I believed could have helped them.

Anyways, thank you for stopping by my blog. You have a pretty good one, yourself. Cheers!