Euro Cup 2012: Tempers Flare for France After Loss to Sweden

The nightmare that was Knysna has not yet abated—perhaps it never will—but there are now reports of disharmony in the French camp once again. 

Following France's agonizing 2-0 defeat to Sweden on Tuesday evening, two separate spats allegedly emerged—one between manager Laurent Blanc and winger Hatem Ben Arfa; the other between midfielders Samir Nasri and Alou Diarra. 

Per reports, Ben Arfa was furious at having been substituted at what he deemed a premature moment (59') in the match. After Blanc singled him out for talking on his cell phone in the post-match dressing room, Ben Arfa reportedly told Blanc that if he did not want him on the pitch, he might as well send him home.

Diarra sought out Nasri after the final whistle to make known his disappointment in the Manchester City mid, whom Diarra felt did not track back frequently enough, shirking the majority of his defensive duties. This set Nasri off, and the two were said to have been engaged in a heated argument.

Things got so harried that Florent Malouda, one of the few members of that ignominious 2010 squad that Blanc brought to the European Championships, said that the scenes "definitely awoke some demons" for him. Malouda quickly noted that it was nowhere near as bad as it had been two years ago, but the damage had been done.

French journalists pounced on the incidents with zeal, plastering the June 21 print edition of L'Equipe—France's famed national sports news daily—with the message, "Les Secrets d'un Reglement de Comptes", which translates to "The secrets of a gunfight/settling of scores".

And to think France entered their final group stage match in pole position in Group D, needing only a draw to emerge from the group stage in first place.

Those good omens have gone now. England, second-placed to start Tuesday's proceedings, vaulted past the French into first with a thrilling  1-0 victory over co-hosts Ukraine. England will now face Italy on Sunday in the quarterfinals, while France must cope with the thankless task of facing defending European and World Champion Spain on Saturday.

More will be known about the fallout from this affair in the coming days, but an easy guess would be that Ben Arfa won't be taking the pitch against La Furia Roja. To be perfectly honest, he was so poor against the Swedes that he shouldn't be in the running for a starting spot anyways.

The Nasri/Diarra affair promises to be a bit trickier. In the lead-up to the 2010 World Cup, L'Equipe ran a series of features on individual players, and Diarra was depicted as a quiet, serene sentinel—not the type to start a fight.

Nasri's own history is a bit more muddied. He was not named to the 2010 World Cup squad despite having a very strong season with Arsenal (five goals, six assists in all competitions, including one wonder goal against FC Porto), and at Euro 2008 he incensed some of the older guard within the French camp with his irreverent antics.

He is reported to be nursing a minor injury ahead of Saturday's tilt match, but should be fit in time to play. The question now becomes, will he?

Blanc and assistant manager Alain Boghossian have played down the incident, with Boghossian saying, "There were words spoken but it was the normal exchanges you get in a changing room.

"It would have been worse if there had been nothing."

Blanc concurred with his second-in-command.

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"Yes, it got pretty heated in there. That always exists in a dressing room, especially following a defeat. But that proves that there was a reaction, an action and a little electricity. I hope they can bring some of that electricity to the Spain match."

"After it was all done, we cooled down with a cold shower. It wasn't cryotherapy ("the local or general use of low temperatures in medical therapy or the removal of heat from a body part," per Wikipedia), but we took a good, long cold shower."

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This is the first internecine quarrel to emerge from team France for some time now.

Previous to Tuesday's antics, Franck Ribery—one of the men most responsible for the training strike two years ago—praised the spirit Blanc has created within the team since coming on as manager in July 2010.

Ribery said players frequently spent time together outside of training and games, and were more cohesive on the pitch.