The Hindu : Sport : Domenech's quiet revolution winning friends

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Sunday, Jul 09, 2006

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Sport

Domenech's quiet revolution winning friends

Jon Brodkin

HAMELIN: Two hundred years after Napoleon Bonaparte occupied Berlin, the French leader who takes his troops into the city on Sunday does so amid considerably less personal fanfare.

Few coaches can have reached a World Cup final to so little adulation as Raymond Domenech. Amid the plaudits heaped on Zinédine Zidane, Lilian Thuram among others, the 54-year-old has barely received a mention. It is as if his team's progress has been achieved in spite of rather than because of him.

After the win against Portugal, when Patrick Vieira spoke of the communication between the players on the pitch and at half-time being key, it was tempting to conclude — correctly or otherwise — that their input was more significant than that of the coach.

When their performances improved it was tempting too, to marginalise the role of Domenech after his faltering qualification and friendly results, and imagine senior squad members leading one final charge before bowing out.

Lack of admiration?

Yet as Willy Sagnol reflected on France's progress, he was fulsome in his praise of the coach. If there is a lack of admiration for Domenech within the squad, as some have posited, the right-back was hiding it well.

"We are lucky to have a coach who lets us express ourselves, gives us responsibility and does not look down on us. We have a lot of respect for him. The spirit has been great, he has given us confidence and success and the keys to win the World Cup, and that is what we are trying to do," he said.

Domenech's call-up and inclusion of Frank Ribéry has been more than justified, he has set up the team in a successful 4-2-3-1 system and could not be faulted tactically in the knockout rounds. The coach is now silencing his critics after being vilified over a long period in France, and ridiculed, as a follower of astrology, for publicly stating that he does not like the Scorpio star sign, under which the excluded Robert Pires was born.

The main objective

All along he said the World Cup final was his objective and dismissed the significance of uninspiring warm-up performances. "Football is not like the theatre when the audience does not get to see the rehearsals," he said.

RENAISSANCE MAN: After being vilified and ridiculed for a long time, French coach Raymond Domenech is slowly but surely silencing his critics and may well have the last laugh in Berlin. — PHOTO: AP

For a coach whose only domestic honour is a second division title at Lyon and who worked as France's under-21 coach for no fewer than 11 years before taking over the national team in 2004, this has been a remarkable journey.

His Italian counterpart Marcello Lippi has an honours list that includes five Serie A titles, four Italian Supercups, an Italian Cup and a Champions League triumph. Yet no one can be sure Domenech will not triumph.

If he does succeed, the coach and the team will remember the criticism amid the applause. "We will celebrate with the people who believed in us and were with us from the start," said Sagnol.

Few believed in Domenech even two weeks ago, but they may do on Sunday night.

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