At times, it seems that Sir Alex Ferguson will go on forever as Manchester United manager, but eventually D-Day will arrive. And if reports are to be believed, this could be his last season, or at best second last, at Old Trafford. The moment Ferguson decides to finally hang up his boots, a decision that will surely be made sooner rather than later given he turns 70 at the end...
12:59 PM, Oct 11, 2012
Paris: The French Football Federation has opened disciplinary proceedings against players Samir Nasri, Hatem Ben Arfa, Jeremy Menez and Yann Mvila for misbehaving at Euro 2012, the FFF said on Tuesday. The federation added that Didier Deschamps, who has just left his job at Olympique Marseille, had asked for time to think about taking over from Laurent Blanc as France coach. Deschamps has until the end of the week to...
05:03 PM, Jul 03, 2012
Paris: France is looking for a new coach after Laurent Blanc turned down a new contract offer, and former World Cup-winning captain Didier Deschamps is touted as the favorite to replace him. Blanc stepped down on Saturday after a European Championship campaign that ended in the quarterfinals and with his players again being questioned about their behavior. Blanc informed the French Football Federation of his decision following lengthy negotiations with...
10:52 AM, Jul 01, 2012
Donetsk: France coach Laurent Blanc remained tightlipped over his future after the team's 2-0 loss to Spain on Saturday in the European Championship quarter-finals. Blanc's contract with the French Football Federation expires at the end of the month. He wanted a new contract before Euro 2012, but FFF President Noel Le Graet preferred to wait until after the tournament before making a decision. "We're out of the competition and we're...
09:05 AM, Jun 24, 2012
Donetsk: Alain Boghossian, an assistant coach for France, insists the matter has been dealt with and his team's full attention is on beating Spain in the European Championship quarter-finals. Two years after France's strife-torn World Cup, a new rift has emerged in the form of a heated locker-room exchange after Tuesday's 2-0 defeat by Sweden. The team met the next day to ease tensions. "The fire's been put out. Nothing's...
11:20 AM, Jun 22, 2012
Donetsk: Tensions are creeping into the French camp at the European Championship, with the players involved in a "heated" bust-up following the team's 2-0 loss to Sweden. France, who were hit by internal strife at the 2010 World Cup, capitulated against the Swedes on Tuesday and would have lost more heavily if goalkeeper Hugo Lloris had not made several saves. Although the defeat did not prevent France from advancing to...
09:35 AM, Jun 21, 2012
Never before has France coach Laurent Blanc been seriously criticised for the on-field performance of his side, so it seems somewhat churlish to hammer the boss after the end of an unbeaten 23-match streak. It is impossible, however, to overlook the coach's decisions during the miserable 2-0 defeat to Sweden. Was Blanc foolishly lured into believing that Tuesday's opponents would be overly relaxed? No " that is not his style....
12:28 PM, Jun 20, 2012
Donetsk: England will struggle to make a major impact at Euro 2012 unless they show greater ambition, according to France coach Laurent Blanc. Les Bleus were largely frustrated by Roy Hodgson's obdurate side in the Group D opener in Donetsk which ended in a 1-1 draw after Samir Nasri cancelled out Joleon Lescott's opener. France's players were highly critical of England's negative approach and France coach Laurent Blanc feels the...
12:37 PM, Jun 13, 2012
Donetsk, Ukraine: Wilting in the heat and technically inferior to the French, England escaped with a draw from their first European Championship opener. And France, with the flair and guile England lacked for most of the match, will be ruing a missed opportunity. "The side that played the most football was France," France coach Laurent Blanc said. That was borne out in the statistics. While the French completed 634 passes,...
09:45 AM, Jun 12, 2012
Valenciennes, France: Franck Ribery scored his first international goal for more than three years and Adil Rami grabbed a late winner as France rallied to beat Iceland 3-2 at home on Sunday in a European Championship warm-up match. Coach Laurent Blanc picked an experimental and attacking line-up, featuring several fringe players. The move soon backfired as Iceland went 2-0 up at half-time thanks to goals from Birkir Bjarnason and Ajax...
09:28 AM, May 28, 2012
Paris: Laurent Blanc has confessed that while he can easily see Spain winning Euro 2012, but he cannot say the same about his France side. Many pundits are tipping the defending champions to win the tournament again but there are those who believe that Les Bleus, who have been drawn alongside England, Ukraine and Sweden, could also mount a challenge. However, Blanc has claimed that it would be foolish to...
01:57 PM, May 25, 2012
Paris: France coach Laurent Blanc included uncapped defender Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa and out-of-form midfielders Yoann Gourcuff and Alou Diarra in a 26-man provisional squad for the European Championship on Tuesday. Yanga-Mbiwa contributed to Montpellier's strong title run in the French league this season and benefited from Mamadou Sakho's lacklustre season. Sakho lost his starting spot at Paris Saint-Germain under coach Carlo Ancelotti. "He's a very good defender, very tough in his...
05:01 AM, May 17, 2012
Clairefontaine: France trio Karim Benzema, Franck Ribery and Blaise Matuidi have been ruled out of Friday's Euro 2012 qualifier at home to Albania and next week's final group game with Bosnia because of injuries, the French Football Federation said on Monday. The three were part of the 24-man squad named by coach Laurent Blanc last week, but fresh injuries while on club duty mean France will be stretched as they...
12:10 PM, Oct 05, 2011
Oslo, Norway: Laurent Blanc's first match as France coach ended in defeat when his inexperienced team lost 2-1 at Norway in a friendly on Wednesday following Erik Huseklepp's two goals. All 23 players of France's World Cup squad were banned for the match following their strike in South Africa and initially it looked like their youthful replacements would do the job when substitute Hatem Ben Arfa scored from long range...
09:54 AM, Aug 12, 2010
"We spent a lot of time in offices and meetings lately and needed to do that," said Blanc referring to the WC exit. ...
10:17 AM, Aug 10, 2010
