NY Coed Soccer

Franck Ribéry

Veterans in the crowd at Hampden Park may have a strange sense of déjà vu when Scotland play France on Saturday. The shortness of stature; the bandy-legged aggression; the twinkling feet; the off-field truculence and charm: Franck Ribéry could be a Scottish winger, or midfielder, from the 1950s or 1960s.

Unfortunately for Scotland, he was brought up in a sink estate in Boulogne-sur-Mer, not in a Lanarkshire pit village or the back streets of Glasgow. Ribéry will be playing for Les Bleus, not the dark blues, tomorrow.

Rejected by the best French clubs as a troubled youngster, the mercurial midfielder is now filling the void left by Zinedine Zidane's retirement from football:  Ribery

Barthez Announces Retiremnet

Fabien Barthez announced his retirement from soccer Thursday, three months after helping France reach its second World Cup final.

"I am starting a new life," Barthez said. "I will continue to enjoy myself ... but without soccer. Some goalkeepers continue until 37 or 38," the 35-year-old Barthez added. "But I needed a human adventure, something like that."

Barthez, who helped France win the 1998 World Cup and 2000 European Championship, is not attached to a club and has not played since July 9, when the French lost a shootout to Italy in the World Cup final. Regarded as a superb shot-stopper but prone to eccentric moments, Barthez made 87 international appearances for France — including a national record 17 over three World Cups. France coach Raymond Domenech chose Barthez as his starting goalkeeper at this year's tournament in Germany ahead of Gregory Coupet, and he played in all seven of France's games.

The former Manchester United goalkeeper quit Marseille prior to the World Cup and hoped his close friendship with Toulouse coach Elie Baup would facilitate a move back to his hometown club, but the French team did not want to risk losing promising goalkeeper Nicolas Douchez.

"The only clubs where I wanted to go were not very pleased to see me," Barthez said on French television. "(Toulouse) would have been perfect for me."

Barthez said he is considering an offer to be a television commentator at next year's rugby union World Cup.

"Why not? That would be interesting," Barthez said. "I grew up surrounded by rugby."

Barthez made his international debut in a 1-0 loss to Australia in 1994. He missed France's final four World Cup qualifiers ahead of the 2006 tournament, but still got the starting job ahead of Coupet. Barthez quit Man United in January 2004 after 139 appearances and two English Premier League titles. He then rejoined Marseille, where he played 180 league games and in 1993 helped it become the only French team to win the European Cup. Barthez also played for Monaco, where he won French league titles in 1997 and 2000.

Not everything was easy for Barthez, however. He never settled in at Man United and made several blunders that eventually pushed him back to France. In May 2005, Barthez received a six-month ban for spitting on Moroccan referee Abdellah el-Achiri during a friendly between Marseille and Wydad Casablanca three months earlier.

"What happened is how things happen every day in the street," Barthez said. "When you receive an insult, you crack. There was an insult. What's done is done."

What's Gone Wrong In Monaco?

Less than two-and-a-half years ago Monaco were savouring the proudest day in their history, swanking it up with José Mourinho's Porto in the Champions League final. Now they're out of Europe and lie sprawled on the floor of the French league in their worst position since 1977. You could say things haven't gone to plan:  Monaco

French Coach Fears Worst From Docu

The France coach, Raymond Domenech, was last night staring at the distinctly unappealing possibility of becoming the Graham Taylor of his country after it was revealed that the midfielder Vikash Dhorasoo filmed a documentary during the World Cup.

The former England manager never fully recovered after a film crew followed him during the failed qualification campaign for the 1994 World Cup, with Taylor swearing repeatedly and coining the infamous phrase: "Do I not like that?" Whether Dhorasoo's footage will reveal similar tendencies in the French coach is unclear but Domenech wasted no time in criticising the player and his plans.

"I never gave him my consent to use the tapes publicly and I'm not going to give it. It's as simple as that," Domenech said as his team were preparing to play Bosnia-Herzegovina in a friendly tonight. "As far as I'm concerned, he can edit me off."

French media reported that Dhorasoo, a bit-part player at the World Cup who was often seen filming his team-mates in Germany, wanted to use the tapes to make a documentary titled "Substitute".

"Vikash should start a new career and it's maybe what he is trying to do. When you become a spectator of other people you cannot pretend to be an actor any more," said Domenech, who left the player out of his squad for tonight's game in Sarajevo.

A Must See!

Thierry Henry's winner against Brazil in the quarter-finals was the result of superb finish and a fine delivery from Zinedine Zidane. However, the Arsenal striker also received some unexpected help from Brazil's Robert Carlos.

Here is a second-by-second play of the goal, which highlights Carlos' culpability at the set-piece. It makes for fascinating viewing:  Roberto Carlos

France Team "Too Black"

French Presidential candidate Jean-Marie Le Pen, the leader of the anti-immigration National Front, has said that there is no great national movement of support behind what he called an ageing French team.

"I get the feeling that the French public do not feel truly represented by them which, without doubt, explains why there is not the same depth of support as there was eight years ago" when France won the World Cup at home.

He also indulged in an old charge that the French players did not properly sing the national anthem when it was played just prior to kickoff, citing the case of Zinedine Zidane "who mumbles it a bit.

Lilian Thuram, France's most capped player, took issue with Le Pen, saying: "Vive La France, but not the France that Monsieur Le Pen wants. He wants to be President but he doesn't know his history of France."

"He says there are too many black players on the team, well I don't know how to respond to that as I'm not black," Thuram, born in Guadeloupe, teased...

French Legend Zidane To Retire

Zinedine Zidane, one of football's greatest players, has taken heed of what his body is telling him and decided to retire from the game after the World Cup:  Zidane

Fear of Bored French Fans

With goals lacking in the French Ligue 1, TV executives are becomingly increasingly worried that the fans will die of boredom. Hence, a list of radical proposals to inject the razzle-dazzle back into French football:

"Penalty shootouts instead of draws? Two points for a score draw? A bonus point for a team winning by more than two goals? These are not the latest madcap ideas from 'soccer' Stateside, but radical proposals the French League are taking very seriously in an effort to tackle the dearth of goals." Let's scrap 0 - 0 draws say 'bored' French