Former France coach Aime Jacquet, who led the team to its sole World Cup victory, said on Friday that Raymond Domenech should have been fired last year.
Jacquet said that Domenech should have lost his coaching job after France’s campaign at last year’s European Championship when the team failed to advance from the group stage. Instead, Domenech was kept in the post by the French soccer federation and struggled to qualify for next year’s World Cup.
“The French federation didn’t understand the nature of the job,” Jacquet told France Football magazine. “They should have protected him from himself.”
Jacquet insisted that Domenech’s team “played a bad game” in their recent World Cup playoff against the Republic of Ireland. France eventually went through after a contested 2-1 aggregate win. Following a 1-0 victory in Dublin thanks to Nicolas Anelka’s deflected shot, France secured a 1-1 draw at home after Thierry Henry handled the ball in the lead-up to William Gallas’ equalizer.
Jacquet, who led France to their maiden World Cup win in 1998, has been a long-time supporter of Domenech, but he said it’s time for him to explain the team’s poor run.
“He should explain what happened and, more generally, what has been going on since 2008,” Jacquet said. “Even his players are waiting for it [an explanation].”
Jacquet, who coached France from 1994 to 1998, said it is impossible to perform well in the post for more than four years.
Domenech took over from Jacques Santini in 2004.
Also on Friday, Cameroon coach Paul Le Guen said that Domenech should have left after eliminating Ireland.
“I have nice feelings toward Raymond Domenech, but to be honest, I would have preferred that he found a deal with the French federation.” Le Guen was quoted as saying on L’Equipe’s Web site. “That would have stopped the whole thing.”
Le Guen, the former Paris Saint-Germain coach said Domenech would never be free of criticism.
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