THE POSTMORTEM into France’s farcical implosion at the World Cup reached the halls of the Elysée Palace yesterday when President Nicolas Sarkozy summoned his prime minister and several cabinet members to a meeting to discuss the debacle in South Africa.
He is due to meet veteran attacker Thierry Henry today.
The French squad was en route to Paris last night after a campaign marred by bitter infighting and a player walk-out which ended with a 2-1 defeat to hosts South Africa, leaving Les Bleusbottom of their group without a win.
With the team’s ignominious exit and the ensuing national outrage pushing all other issues off the news agenda in Paris, Mr Sarkozy yesterday called prime minister François Fillon, health minister Roselyne Bachelot and sports minister Rama Yade to a meeting to discuss what went wrong.
He is due to meet Henry in Paris today after the player asked for an opportunity to give the squad’s version of events.
“The president wants any decisions to be taken calmly and without haste,” said government spokesman Luc Chatel, adding that the squad lacked “respect, team spirit, pride and enough dignity to wear the shirt of any club, from the smallest local side to that of the French national team”.
Mr Sarkozy is reportedly furious about the damage caused to France’s reputation by the tragicomedy of the past week.
He was quoted in yesterday’s Canard Enchaîné telling colleagues: “It is a political problem. When the whole world is laughing at us, it goes beyond sport.”
Ms Bachelot said on Europe 1 radio: “It is a disaster and we are in despair. Those responsible for this disaster must accept the consequences, first the players, then the team management and after them the football federation.”.
With vitriolic criticism being heaped on the French squad, its manager and the football federation, the question of race continued to raise its head.
The anti-racism group MRAP reacted strongly to comments by the philosopher Alain Finkielkraut, who spoke of “ethnic and religious divisions” in the squad and blamed “a group of thugs who only understand the morality of the mafia”.
MRAP complained that Mr Finkielkraut “is not criticising the footballers for what they do, but what they are” – a majority of squad members are from poor, predominantly immigrant suburbs.
Cities minister Fadela Amara, who grew up on a rough estate herself, warned against the “temptation to ethnicise” the debate.
"Everyone condemns the working-class areas," she said. "There's an air of doubt around the fact that people of immigrant origin are capable of respecting the nation. I think every democrat and every republican will be the loser in this ethnicisation of the criticism of Les Bleus."
National Front leader Jean-Marie Le Pen said the debacle was “deserved”. “I hated the policy that made the French team a flag for anti-racism,” he said.
“One can sense that there’s a political desire to impose an image of France which – for now anyway – is not that of France.”