First, Nicholas Anelka was sent home back to France after he refused to apologize for his expletive-loaded remarks to coach Domenech.
Following that controversy, Team France went to the training grounds in Knysyna in their bus, but they led by refused to begin their training session. France team captain Patrice Evra then had a shouting match with their fitness coach Robert Duverne. French head coach Raymond Domenech tried to intervene, but he himself became agitated and threw down his stopwatch in full view of the media.
The players prepared a letter to be addressed for the media, and it read that "All the players in the French squad without exception wish to affirm their opposition to the decision taken by the French Football Federation to exclude Nicolas Anelka."
Disgusted by the behavior of the team, French Football Federation official Jean-Louis Valentin declared that he would now resign from his post and return immediately to Paris. It was the job of Jean-Louis Valentin to serve as a liaison between the players and the management and the federation.
In his own words, Jean-Louis Valentin said, ""I am ashamed, I am leaving immediately for Paris. What has happened is a scandal for the federation, for the French team and for the whole country. They do not want to train, it is unacceptable."
Once again - France has shown the world their capacity for big headlines in the World Cup due to controversy.
In 2006, Zinedine Zidane - then, the captain for France - headbutted Marco Materazzi of Italy in the finals of the 2006 World Cup. Zidane was sent off the finals with a red card, and Italy went on to win the World Cup.
Earlier this year in World Cup qualifying, star striker Thierry Henry had a controversial hand ball that led to a goal, which put France past Ireland and gave them their chance to qualify in the 2010 World Cup final tournament in South Africa. Maybe there should've been a ruling, and Ireland should've been sent to South Africa instead of France. Maybe the games would've been better, and there would be no need for all this drama from France.
In regards to all these French controversies, Zinedine Zidane did not apologize to Marco Materazzi for what he did. Thierry Henry didn't exactly apologize for his hand ball either. And certainly, Nicholas Anelka refused to apologize, and he got sent home.
Perhaps there is no word for "apology" in the French vocabulary. After all, "pardon" in French is more used as "Excuse me" and not really "sorry."
France - United we stand, and united we fall!
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