Press announcement: France Players refuse to Play the last Match against South Africa

Unknown yet which players it concerns, ... Any ideas people?

Unbelievable that players decide what is going to happen. Please, Please, Uruguay and Mexico, help us with a 0-0 1-1 2-2 3-3 4-4 ... and go both through to the next round. Or South Africa - for the honour of Africa and your country - do us a favor and WIN !!

France Surrenders! Shocking!












(Sorry, that one was too easy).

I'm guessing Ribery , Evra and Gallas . Possibly Abidal also ..

If I'm right , it doesn't really matter because I prefer to never see them play for the NT again .

Even their sponsor left...

OMAIGADSRSLY?

Would this be "the first NT to forfeit in WC group stages?"

I agree, allthough in my opinion Evra and Ribery can be still of value for the France Team. But ANELKA, no NEVER.

I do not care for quality if these players are unprofessional and frankly unlikeable .

I'd rather see young , hungry players who will display passion for what it means to wear the jersey of France , and not to disrespect it's people . If this means a decrease in quality , I'm all for it .

Mexico is playing for the win, Aguirre already said so.

Real source please ?

http://futbol.univision.com/fifacopamundial/mexico/article/2010-06-21/aguirre-tenemos-que-hacer-un

He even says he will be playing people with yellow cards and his intent is to win and give a good display of football.

erm can we bring Ireland in to play for them? Really this will mean an automatic 3-0 win for South Africa no? In which case a 2-0 defeat for Uruguay would see the Bafana Bafana through.

I assumed he was talking about a real source for the notion that French players were refusing to play.

Quite a circus going on with the team

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/world_cup_2010/8752637.stm

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/w...ny_admits_players_might_refuse_to_play_a.html

I hate to say this but if the players really do do this then FIFA should not just come down on the French football association but on the players themselves as it is they who are making this happen... they should ban the players from professional football for a considerable time....

If it really came down to be, then does South Africa automatically get 3-0 (and almost automatically be eliminated as that still probably isn't enough to get by on GD)

It'd be hilarious if SA somehow got through thanks to an automatic 3-0 win.

Yeah, I can hear this guy laughing already.

Good idea!

All jokes aside, this French "team" & its crap manager are very entertaining! ) Did they maybe get jinxed by the 'football god' for Henry's cheating?

Can't be all the players, i wonder who will show up tomorrow. I can see France being 4 men down with an empty bench, no manager, no subs.

First of all, I have serious doubts about whether ANY French players actually skip the game at all.

But even if a few did, it would take an enormous number of them boycotting in order to not be able to field a team. A WC roster is, what, 23 players? So you could have half the team boycott and still field a complete team. And quite frankly, even "second string" players for the French national team should be able to hold their own and put up a fight.

Well, 22 after you send one Anelka home.
Better make that 21 because Toulalan is serving suspension for yellows in first 2 games.
And three of the 21 are keepers, so make that 18 field players.

I also doubt that any will refuse to play. I'm sure this will all get worked out, but with only 18 field players to choose from it wouldn't take many to have a have a major impact on their quality.

Odd you should mention that because I'm pretty sure that tactic is already being attempted by Marcello Lippi with Juv... erm I mean Italy.

That would be fine by me. It would be a good way to send the message that you're not playing (or refusing to play) for your coach, you're playing (or refusing to play) for the fans of your nation.

This should happen whether FIFA approves or not.

I think France has too many players from too many countries who probably are not true patriotic Frenchmen in their hearts. Some of them seem to have their loyalty somewhere else

Yes, this is what I've been thinking since the start of this debacle. Too many players who feel African at heart and not truly French.