Malouda apologizes to fans

(GSM) – France winger Florent Malouda has issued an apology to French fans following the team’s awful showing at the 2010 World Cup. The 2006 World Cup runners-up shockingly exit the tournament from the group stages as a run of two losses and a draw saw them finish last in Group A.

In what was nothing short of a disastrous campaign, France forward Nicolas Anelka was sent home for insulting coach Raymond Domenech and refusing to apologize. The French squad reacted angrily by refusing to train after Anelka’s dismissal with captain Patrice Evra shockingly reported to have fought with a fitness coach.

With all eyes on the upcoming reign of former Bordeaux manager Laurent Blanc, but Chelsea’s Malouda has decided to apologize in the name of the players and insisted that he does not intend to retire from international football.

“I want to apologise to the French fans in the name of the players for our poor run,” Malouda told L’Equipe.

“We are not proud of what we’ve done. Maybe we didn’t have exemplary behaviour. I don’t know how we’ll be forgiven.

“It’s been a complete disaster. This isn’t what we wanted to show. We didn’t want to flout our colours.

“Patrice Evra wanted to hold a press conference before the last match, but he was told it was not the right time.

“After Anelka’s exclusion maybe we reacted badly by striking, but we didn’t appreciate seeing him blamed for the group’s responsibility.

“Frankly there was no one poor individual in the group. Nico is not a lot, and there was no traitor in the squad.

“We were the victims of poor decisions under pressure. We cracked.

“I don’t want to end my career in a Les Bleus shirt, but we have to think about the reasons behind the failure and talk about it with the new coach.”