Disgusted but no longer surprised by their team’s dismal World Cup performance, many French fans cheered South Africa’s goals as “Les Bleus” were dumped out of the competition.
“We must be the only country in the world pleased to see its team lose,” said a 20-year-old student in a bar in central Paris after watching the French squad’s humiliating 2-1 defeat.
That anger was echoed across France as soccer supporters digested their country’s dramatic fall from the soaring heights of World Cup triumph in 1998 to the dismal depths of 2010.
The team came into the match in turmoil after a bust-up following the expulsion of star striker Nicolas Anelka from the squad for a foul-mouthed outburst at coach Raymond Domenech.
“It’s pathetic, unacceptable, we’ll never forgive them,” said Marie-Helene, who was among 5,000 supporters who watched the match on a giant screen at Trocadero square, just across the river from the Eiffel tower.
The crowd at Trocadero stood at the start of the game to sing the Marseillaise national anthem, but quickly the mood of soccer despair that has reigned in France returned.
Coach Domenech, widely blamed for France’s lengthy fall from grace, was booed every time his face appeared on the giant screen.
Domenech managed to guide France to the 2006 World Cup finals — where they were beaten by Italy — but his prickly public persona grates with fans and media alike.
He is roundly scorned on Internet sites such as YouTube and Dailymotion, where video parodies focus on the nasty insult he got from Anelka.
Social networking sites like Facebook carried scores of pages that expressed outrage or scorn for the French squad.
Around 14,000 people joined the “Make ‘Les Bleus’ walk back home from South Africa” group on Facebook.
Politicians were also quick to get the boot in after Tuesday’s defeat.
“France has been made to look ridiculous by an irresponsible group,” said Eric Ciotti of French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s ruling UMP party.
“These players, overpaid, living in a virtual world, have provided the worst possible example to young people for whom they had often been heroes,” he said.
As the final whistle was blown, a cafe customer, who gave her name as Sonia, delivered a bitter verdict.
“I’m disgusted that France scored because they’ll be boasting about that,” she said.
The French squad’s defeat on Tuesday crowned months of controversy.
They entered the finals with many even questioning whether they deserved to be there after Thierry Henry’s infamous handball against Ireland.
Hong Kong-based cricket team Hung See this weekend found success in their matches in Taiwan, even if none of the results went their way. Hung See played the Chairman’s XI on Saturday morning, the Daredevils that afternoon and PCCT yesterday, with all three home teams winning. The team for Chinese players at the Happy Valley-based Craigengower Cricket Club sends teams on tour to “spread the game of cricket.” This weekend was Hung See’s second trip to Taiwan after visiting Tainan in 2016. “The club has been traveling to all parts of the world since 1982 and the annual tradition continues [with the Taiwan
Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei yesterday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while Coco Gauff’s dreams of a first women’s singles title in Melbourne were crushed in the quarter-finals by Paula Badosa. World No. 2 Alexander Zverev was ruffled by a stray feather in his men’s singles quarter-final, but he refocused to beat 12th seed Tommy Paul and reach the semi-finals. Third seeds Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia defeated Elena-Gabriela Ruse of Romania and Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine 6-2, 5-7, 7-5 in 2 hours, 20 minutes to advance the semi-finals. Hsieh and Ostapenko converted eight of 14 break
The San Francisco Giants signed 18-year-old Taiwanese pitcher Yang Nien-hsi (陽念希) to a contract worth a total of US$500,000 (NT $16.39 million). At a press event in Taipei on Wednesday, Jan. 22, the Giants’ Pacific Rim Area scout Evan Hsueh (薛奕煌) presented Yang with a Giants jersey to celebrate the signing. The deal consisted of a contract worth US$450,000 plus a US$50,000 scholarship bonus. Yang, who stands at 188 centimeters tall and weighs 85 kilograms, is of Indigenous Amis descent. With his fastest pitch clocking in at 150 kilometers per hour, Yang had been on Hsueh’s radar since playing in the HuaNan Cup
HARD TO SAY GOODBYE: After Coco Gauff dispatched Belinda Bencic in the fourth round, she wrote ‘RIP TikTok USA’ and drew a broken heart on a television camera lens Defending champion Hsieh Su-wei of Taiwan yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while compatriot Chan Hao-ching on Saturday dominated her opponents in the second round, as world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka swept into the quarter-finals. Third seeds Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia toppled Hungary’s Timea Babos and Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US 6-4, 6-3, hitting 24 winners and converting three of seven break points in 1 hour, 18 minutes at 1573 Arena. Although rivals at last year’s Australian Open — where Hsieh and Belgium’s Elise Mertens beat Ostapenko and Ukraine’s Lyudmyla Kichenok 6-1, 7-5
RSS