French National Team: Reviewing Laurent Blanc's First Year at the Helm

You wouldn't have known it from the scoreline, but Tottenham central defender Younes Kaboul actually had himself a pretty good game.

Thrashed 3-0 by Manchester United at Old Trafford (has a referee ever called a foul against the Red Devils in that hellish compound?) Kaboul's performance drew raves, even from ESPN announcer Ian Darke, who, spot-on in his appraisals, rarely voices his reviews on live air.

But Darke made a concerted effort of applauding Kaboul's work during the telecast. He was steady and assured throughout. His positioning was excellent, his tackles were sure-footed and vigorous. You might have mistook him for a United defender, in fact, seeing as how mature and professional he seemed.

Still, there was room for improvement. Danny Welbeck's unmarked header for the first United goal. The Tottenham defense left in shambles by the very same Welbeck's deft backheel, which fell into the path of Anderson, who finished with aplomb into the top corner of the net.

In the end, 'twas a match which reflected Kaboul's current status as a player and, to a larger extent, that of his national team—l'equipe de France.

Promising, but not "there" yet.

After a disastrous World Cup, which saw the only real, concerted effort at concocting a semblance of camaraderie in the guise of a training-session boycott by the 23 squad members on the way to a pitiful Group stage, where the team managed only a solitary point and a lone goal, new coach Laurent Blanc—himself a member of the 1998 World Cup and 2000 European Cup champions—was left to sift through the rubble of a shambolic federation that had crashed spectacularly.

There were stars who seemed to have played their last game—boycott leaders Patrice Evra, Franck Ribery, Jeremy Toulalan, and Nicolas Anelka in particular.

Anelka received the equivalent of an international football death penalty, earning an 18-match ban for his unacceptable actions during the competition, which included a much-talked about bust-up with coach Raymond Domenech during halftime of the match versus Mexico; during which the Chelsea frontman told the fledgling astrologer to go...do something rather untoward to himself.

Suffice to say, Anelka was sent to the back of the room after challenging the teacher. Except, in this case, he was sent home from South Africa before France's final Group Stage match against the host nation.

European Champions merely 10 years previously, France really could not have sunk any lower had Paul Gascoigne been navigating the icy waters.

Undeterred by the task at hand—for all we know, Blanc might have been handed the reigns to a recently-Death-Penaltied Southern Methodist football program, the stoic former defender set about picking up the pieces.

As in any reclamation project, Blanc whitewashed the structure previously employed by the national team. For his first match as manager—an away friendly against Norway in August, 2010—eight players made their senior national team debuts, and the starting XI was bereft of any World Cup starter.

After the well-documented drama which had plagued his predecessor Domenech's tumultuous (and slightly kooky) reign, Blanc invited out-of-favor players such as Samir Nasri and Karim Benzema back into the national team fold.

A 2-1 loss in that fixture—the bright spot an excellent goal by Hatem Ben Arfa—followed by an embarrassing 2-1 loss at the Stade de France to Belarus in the first match of 2012 European qualifying in early September had Blanc on the chopping block less than two months into the job.

The French hate being embarrassed, and a loss on home soil to a side that can hardly be labeled a world beater was salt in the yet-unhealed World Cup gash.

This project was always going to take time. Blanc had assured only one member of the World Cup squad—keeper Hugo Lloris—that his spot was not in question. Sending in players unaccustomed to the rigors of international football was an audacious scenario, but if anyone could get it right, it was Blanc.

Despite the assumption that this French side, which had looked bereft of ideas in the Belarus loss before being booed off the pitch by an unimpressed 76,000 Parisians, would struggle famously, France rebounded only four days later with a crucial 2-0 victory away to Bosnia and Herzegovina—who'd only narrowly missed World Cup 2010, and had been deemed the side most likely to challenge France's claim to top spot in the group.

That victory was followed by a run of strong performances, including a 2-0 win over Romania, again at the Stade de France, and another 2-0 win away to Luxembourg.

You could almost see the generic sport movie montage begin rolling—struggling team makes a breakthrough, starts on a string of victory. The Lumiere brothers—French citizens—did release the first motion picture in the late 1890s, after all, so perhaps it wasn't the biggest stretch.

Realizing that his new-look side was finally beginning to gel, but aware of the quality of some of the troubled World Cup stars, Blanc began working the 2010 Mondialistes back into the team slowly, integrating them almost one-by-one, only after assurances they would not disrupt the new-found group chemistry.

A 2-1 win over England across La Manche at Wembley Stadium provided closure to a 2010 that had seen the national team go from laughingstock to contender in the span of a couple months.

France played the Three Lions off the park during a first half, a period when England looked a man down, so thorough was the French domination.

2011 was christened by another rash of dressing room changes—luckily, these did not concern the players' comportment. Nike took over as official equipment supplier to Les Bleus, after outbidding Adidas for the rights to outfit the Federation.

The Eugene, Oregon-based company developed a slew of slogans to commemorate this new collaboration—including such lofty and magnanimous messages as Vive le Football Libre (Long live free-flowing football), and Nos Differences Nous Unissent (Our differences bring us together).

The principle exhorted by the latter would come under fiery question only a couple months down the road.

These messages weren't chosen arbitrarily—after watching Domenech's sides labor for results, often relying on the individual capabilities of superstars within the side rather than creating any extended periods of well-constructed play, Blanc had an added task on his hand. 

Not only was he supposed to win, he was expected to field a side that would play flowing, pass-heavy football with an emphasis of the team over the individual.

Once a staple of the French game—especially for those two title-winning sides a decade ago—internal turmoil and player feuds had taken the place of style.

I attended the second leg of France's 2010 World Cup playoff against Ireland at (again) the Stade de France in November, 2009. Leading 1-0 on aggregate after snatching victory in the first leg in Dublin, France came out cautious, timid, and unwilling to try anything in the second.

Their side was more concerned with protecting the lead than actually creating any piece of substantial play. It was a pathetic display, unfitting of a side with that much talent at its disposal.

Blanc saw to it that that would never be the case again.

Sporting their new, simplistic Nike kits, France defeated another side busy rebuilding its image in a Feb. 9 friendly at the Stade de France.

After being run out of the World Cup in the quarterfinal stage for the second consecutive tournament (France defeated Brazil 1-0 in 2006 before Holland snuck past the Selecao 2-1 in 2010), Brazil rid itself of the defensive-minded Dunga as coach and brought in Mario Menezes.

The new coach's mission: create a world beater by 2014. That's the year the World Cup comes to Brazil, and you can imagine the embarrassment if the all-time leader in World Cup titles (five) were to lose on home soil. French call it la honte (shame). Brazilians call it playing defensive-minded football instead of la Samba of Pele, Socrates, and Ronaldo that made the country famous in the first place.

France next plays host to a major tournament in 2016, when l'Hexagon will be the stage for the European Championships. But you could see how Blanc might commiserate with Menezes at present.

The former world-class central defender has attempted to create a French side that plays with attacking intent via that all-too-French notion of panache.

To put it in the words of TV analyst Christophe Dugarry (another member of those '98 and '00 sides), "We want to create an attractive style of play that is successful."

Though Blanc's tenure as French coach has been hugely successful, it's not been exempt from bumps in the road.

A messy scandal, coming to the forefront in March, that the French federation had attempted to install race quotas in their development programs in a purported attempt to limit the number of players of African and Arab descent, launched a justifiable firestorm of protest.

In a country where the National Assembly has passed legislation prohibiting Muslim women from wearing the customary "burqa" that covers their face, you can imagine how this kind of publicity was exactly what Blanc would have feared.

The scandal led to an inquiry, but former players (including Zidane, who is of Algerian descent) came out and defended Blanc, who was eventually exonerated of all wrongdoing, and kept his post.

If one looks at Blanc's choice starting XI, you'd be hard-pressed to peg him as a racist. The current French lineup reflects the changing nature of France itself—and that's for the best. The top players should play—regardless of their skin color.

With European Championship qualifying set to head into overdrive in the approaching months, with the final set of fixtures coming in September and October (two each month), France currently sit atop Group D with 13 points. Belarus trail by only one point, but France have a game in hand over that side that so embarrassed their fierte (pride) a year ago.

Away fixtures to Albania and Romania—two locations not known for their hospitality—may prove to be tricky affairs, and that final qualifying match up against Bosnia-Herzegovina at the Stade de France will be no cakewalk (those last opponents currently sit three points behind the French leaders, and possess the newly-reinvigorated Edin Dzeko), but you'd be hard-pressed to find anyone who would peg Les Bleus to falter at this stage.

Just as he transformed Bordeaux—his previous post as manager—in three seasons (2007-10), Blanc has taken France and molded them into a cohesive unit.

Blanc gained widespread praise for bringing French playmaker Yoann Gourcuff in on loan from AC Milan to les Girondins before the 2008-09 season. Gourcuff was sensational during that season, scoring from anywhere he pleased, and pulling the strings as the meneur de jeu (playmaker) with the kind of ease once employed by Zidane.

Now at Lyon, Gourcuff has never hesitated to dedicate his transformation from floundering Milan benchwarmer to Bordeaux createur to his former boss, Blanc.

Le coach has taken that keen eye for unearthing talent that once found Gourcuff, and has created a side that plays—and plays well—to the French national team.

Under his guidance, such players as Kevin Gameiro, Guillaume Hoaraou, Marvin Martin, Yann M'Vila, Jeremy Menez, Loic Remy, and the afore-mentioned Kaboul have been brought into the fold, with rampant success.

Though the side is by no means a finished product—perhaps only the Special One could create world-beaters in the span of a year (and remember, he didn't win the treble with Inter until his second season in charge), Les Bleus current state might best be summarized by that performance by Kaboul against United Monday.

The talent is there, and it is there in abundance. And while there may yet be some rough patches up ahead, the outlook looks as bright as an early summer morning along the Seine.