It’s official. France are out of the World Cup. Following a week and a half of controversy, arguments and embarrassment, a defeat to South Africa this afternoon confirmed their bottom of the group finish.
Patrice Evra, who had been chosen as the captain ahead of Thierry Henry, was dropped to the bench for today’s game, with the likes of Malouda and Abidal. Domenech got so desperate, even Djibril Cisse was in the starting line-up.
After the game, Evra apologised to the fans and confirmed he will reveal all to them next week.
“It’s time to say sorry,” said Evra. “I apologise to the fans. My coach stopped me saying sorry yesterday. I’ll explain things in the week. The French people need to know truth and to know what happened. Team belongs to them. There’s no reason why I wasn’t on the pitch.”
The players famously refused to train after Nicolas Anelka was sent home, with the players getting back on the bus in front of the world’s cameras. Abidal has revealed that when they were on the bus, Evra didn’t want any player to feel forced in to protesting.
“On the bus the captain said that if anyone wanted to get off, it wasn’t too late. Nobody got off.”
