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France must accept need to turn over new page - Domenech French manager Raymond Domenech, struggling to find a new playing formula after some of the country's top names retired from international football, says France should first accept they must turn over a new page. "The day when we admit once and for all that we cannot play the way we used to, we'll make a big step forward," he told soccer magazine France Football. Domenech, who took over from Jacques Santini after Euro 2004, has had to cope with the departures of Zinedine Zidane, Lilian Thuram, Claude Makelele and Bixente Lizarazu for France's World Cup qualifying campaign. France host Ireland on Saturday and travel to Cyprus the following Wednesday for two Group 4 qualifiers. "Zidane is a playing system in himself," Domenech said. The French manager insisted it was out of the question for the Real Madrid playmaker to make it back to the French team of which he was a vital part for a decade. "I would be delighted for him to return, no doubt, but he won't return. "I did everything I could. In this respect I feel I did my best. I couldn't do any more. "The only thing I could have done would have been to send the police and force him to come," he said. With Patrick Vieira suspended against Ireland and Jerome Rothen and Benoit Pedretti injured, Domenech is struggling to find players to replace Zidane or Makelele in midfield. But Domenech cited 20-year-old Bologna playmaker Mourad Meghni as one of the midfielders to watch in the future, saying: "If he keeps playing regularly for Bologna, I bet he will play at the highest level pretty soon." |
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