Bulletproof Domenech survives another close call

Amid the turmoil, France coach Raymond Domenech was told Thursday that he would keep his job and lead ‘Les Bleus’ to the World Cup finals in South Africa next summer.

But a day after apparent cheating helped France beat the Republic of Ireland in a high-stakes, winner-takes-all playoff, the general feeling is that Domenech has squirmed his way out of another potential catastophe.

Only a blatant handball by his captain Thierry Henry, which led to the equaliser that gave France a 2-1 aggregate win over the Irish, got France and Domenech out of jail late on Wednesday night.

Just as many knives as plaudits came out for France and Domenech after what must be one of the most controversial results in the history of French football.

As a distraught Ireland launched what is likely to be a futile request to world football body FIFA for a replay, Domenech was told that he should, at least, acknowledge publicly the gravity of Henry’s handball.

“Raymond Domenech should express his public regrets and show a gesture of dignity towards Ireland,” said De Villiers, the president of the right-wing Mouvement Pour la France (MPF).

“The moral of this match is that you can cheat as long as you don’t get caught. The France team is going to be labelled for years as a team of cheats.”

Despite the apparent widespread dislike of Domenech, statistics show him in a good light since he replaced Jacques Santini after their poor showing at Euro 2004 in Portugal.

Under his stewardship France have won 40 games, drawn 22 and lost only 10.

Yet in the time since he led France to the 2006 World Cup final, where ‘Les Bleus’ lost out to bitter rivals Italy in a penalty shoot-out, Domenech has dodged the guillotine on numerous occasions.

Two years after that World Cup final, made infamous by Zinedine Zidane’s headbutt on Marco Materazzi, France flopped at the Euro 2008 after winning no games, scoring only one goal and conceding six.

Quite how Domenech survived that humiliation — especially after his post-match live television interview was composed of a bumbling marriage proposal to his journalist girlfriend — still has people guessing.

Domenech’s proposal was turned down and a month later further humiliation was in store when the French were humbled 3-1 in Austria in their first qualifier for the 2010 World Cup.

Having lost the nucleus of the France squad that beat Brazil to win the 1998 World Cup, Domenech faced plenty of challenges on the road to South Africa.

Facing Serbia four days later, Domenech all but admitted he was a marked man in the French media: “There’s a lot of you today… the smell of blood must be enticing.

“Thankfully the changes in certain laws means that the guillotine is no longer in use, otherwise a few of you would only be happy to send me to the scaffold.”

France went on to endure a mitigated campaign, beating Serbia 2-1 then drawing 2-2 with Romania. Come 2009 France beat Lithuania at home and away, and then beat the Faroe Islands 1-0 away.

It was during the win against Serbia that former Lyon star Karim Benzema — substituted for Nicolas Anelka — effectively lost his place in the team.

Spats with Domenech since then means he is still sitting on the bench, however when backs have been to the wall established players — such as Henry — have stepped up to the challenge.

However subsequently, a 1-1 home draw with Romania, followed by a 1-1 draw away to Serbia left Domenech’s side in danger of losing out on automatic qualification.

In their final two qualifiers France hammered the Faroes 5-0 and beat Austria 3-1, but finished second to group winners Serbia and were subsequently drawn with the Republic of Ireland.

Anelka’s deflected shot gave France a crucial 1-0 lead in Dublin last Saturday. A stroke of refereeing luck, and a barefaced handball from Henry, allowed a disappointing France side to pull through in the second leg.

Amid ministerial calls for a drastic improvement in performances, French Football Federation (FFF), Jean-Pierre Escalettes was almost alone in standing by his man.

“There’s no issue here,” Escalettes told French radio RTL.

“Can you imagine saying to Raymond, ‘listen, thanks for qualifying us, it’s nice but we’re going to replace you with someone else for the World Cup?

“It’s just not imaginable. To say that, you have to know nothing about sport.”