Newly proud and once-proud teams make their exits
From Johannesburg, South Africa — Saying farewell is never easy, and that was especially true Tuesday at the World Cup.
There were tears for the South Africans, tears for the Nigerians and tears for the Greeks. For those teams, the tournament has come to an end. They are back at the bottom of the mountain, staring up at a peak named Sugarloaf and a distant goal named Brazil 2014.
Turn the South Africa 2010 playing field upside down and there were cheers for the Uruguayans, cheers for the Mexicans, cheers for the Argentines and cheers for the Koreans. For them, the tournament now takes a more serious turn. They are four victories from the summit.
And what of France?
Are there tears, cheers or jeers for Les Dysfonctionnel Bleus?
A smattering of each, probably.
There is sadness that a once-great soccer program has become a global laughingstock, the butt of jokes worldwide. France was the world champion as recently as the summer of ‘98, when the Three Tenors sang beneath the Eiffel Tower and fans danced in the streets until dawn smudged the Parisian sky.
France was on top of the world again — or at least within 11 determined Italians of it — as recently as 2006, the year when Zinedine Zidane’s momentary head-butt madness in Berlin cost his team a second title.
Perhaps that’s where it all began to spiral downward for French Coach Raymond Domenech and his players, plummeting through the agony of Euro 2008 and reaching rock bottom Tuesday with first-round elimination from this tournament.
But we will miss Domenech and his not-so-merry men. Who else could explain the French players boycotting training and shutting themselves in their team bus as “an aberration, an imbecility, a stupidity without name,” as Domenech so memorably did?
The French will fly home Wednesday shame-faced and with the laughter still ringing in their ears. For a few weeks, they provided nothing but comic relief, their daily infighting a curiously addictive sporting soap opera.
Embarrassing? Absolutely, especially for Jean-Pierre Escalettes, president of the French soccer federation, who spoke Tuesday of “50 years of values crumbled” and said the “shame that football brought to France” was “far worse than poor results.”
Still, it was sad to see Thierry Henry, whose “hand of Gaul” goal against Ireland in qualifying play figures large in this script, exchanging jerseys with South Africa’s Steven Pienaar in Bloemfontein on Tuesday evening.
Henry had just played in his 123rd and almost certainly final game for France and his 17th World Cup game, tying him with 1998 Cup-winning goalkeeper Fabian Barthez.
It was a poignant moment, but even in defeat France managed to embarrass itself courtesy of a red card during the match and an unnecessarily rude response by Domenech when the final whistle blew.
Being disappointed at losing is one thing, but at least have the decency to shake the winning coach’s hand. Still, Domenech did wish France well.
“I have had six exceptional years, both good times and bad,” he said. “I really hope the French team succeeds. It has been an honor.”
Au revoir, Raymond.
Tuesday also marked the farewell of Carlos Alberto Parreira, South Africa’s Brazilian coach, who had taken Bafana Bafana as far as he could and will now step aside after participating in a record six World Cups.
Even before the match, Parreira, who won the World Cup with Brazil at USA ‘94, had cautioned South Africa that it might well become the first host in the 80-year history of the World Cup to fall at the first hurdle.
“If it happens, it happens — it will be a disappointment, but no host nation has ever been given such a difficult draw, so I would not consider it as a failure,” he said.
South Africa rose to the occasion Tuesday, inspired perhaps by the words of Danny Jordaan, head of the local organizing committee.
“What happens in Tuesday’s match is what this country will remember,” Jordaan told them on the eve of the game. “As players, you will remember the first moments and the last moments when you are on the field. You gave us an incredible first moment.
“This is your opportunity to run like you have never run before, to commit to playing to the final whistle. . . . Go there and do your best and you will see that your best might surprise even you.”
It did, and South Africa can look back on its World Cup with pride. It tied Mexico, it lost to two-time world champion Uruguay and it defeated former world champion France.
France and South Africa might both have exited the World Cup, but one went down in flames and the other went down in a blaze of glory.
