No soccer player in recent memory has received as much scorn during and after the World Cup, as did France and Chelsea striker, Nicolas Anelka. His allegedly expletive-laden comments during the half-time of a loss to Mexico, towards then Les Blues coach Raymond Domenech, led to his dismissal from the team. That resulted in a sympathetic players strike by his France team-mates, against the coach at a practice, prior to their final World Cup match in the group round, and subsequent 2-1 loss to the host nation, South Africa. Domenech was relieved of his coaching duties, shortly after the conclusion of an internal investigation into the upheaval at the World Cup. Former France World Cup hero Zinedine Zidane, was widely quoted in suggesting that Domenech never should have been coaching the team at any point in time.
For his part, Anelka received an 18 game ban from the national team, in part for not showing up for his disciplinary hearing with the French Football Federation, which realistically translates into a lifetime suspension.
Not everyone with a solid background in soccer, sees the Versailles native as a traitor, and malcontent. He was solid last year at Chelsea, and now, he has helped the Blues advance in the Champions League, as on Tuesday, he scored a goal in a 2-0 Chelsea victory at Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow, over Spartak Moscow.
ESPNsoccernet analyst Kevin Keegan, the former Liverpool, and Hamburg player, as well as a manager with England, Newcastle United, Manchester City, and Fullham, cast a much different light on the former winger and striker on several high profile English and European football clubs.
As detailed by ESPNsoccernet, Keegan probably knows more about Anelka and how to work with him, than Domenech ever did.
“ I had the pleasure of managing Nicolas at Manchester City between 2002 and 2005……. he is a very private individual. He came in for training, was never late, always put in a good shift and you could never accuse him of failing to display the correct attitude. Nicolas was never a problem for me at all. At Manchester City he did just about everything we asked of him, and scored plenty of goals. It always seemed that he could destroy defenders at will: he did it in training and matches.”
Keegan also put Anelka’s World Cup fiasco into a sensible perspective. “ I’m sure there were another six or seven players in the World Cup camp who had a problem, but a much-publicized row with Raymond Domenech erupted and he was made a scapegoat as a result. Deep down, there is a player and a man who will want to show France what they are missing. Chelsea could reap the benefits of that as they continue their relentless title challenge.”
I am biased as a Chelsea supporter, and so I’ll take Keegan’s word over that of Domenech, any day. It seems impossible to find anyone on the planet, who has anything positive to say about the former France bench boss.
The anger of Les Blues and Anelka, towards Domenech, should obviously have been handled professionally, as opposed to rebelliously. That is the fault of Anelka and his team-mates, all of whom received their respective punishments from the French Football Federation. At the same time, to completely cast off a player like Anelka, without a total perspective, is a poorly researched investigation. It is important to get the whole story on those involved, not just the isolated drama, of a few weeks in South Africa, in terms of summarizing someone’s life and character.
Nicolas Anelka may have been out of line with Les Blues,but according to Keegan, and Anelka’s productivity at Chelsea, he had been in line with his Manchester City squad, as well as the Gunners, Wanderers, Reds, Blues and just about everyone else the 31 year old has played for. Maybe much the real problems with the French national soccer team, went way above the pitch and the locker room. Hopefully those who investigated the problem, did so with their eyes and ears wide open.