Archives for category: Euro
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Laurent Blanc

Brilliant move last Friday by new French coach Laurent Blanc. The “President” as Blanc is called since his days playing with France, outsmarted all those that wanted to have the entire French squad banned forever. Blanc kicked out the team that had ashamed the whole of France for the first friendly againt Norway on August 11. Hmmm the real punishment would have been to send them all play that game! Blanc knows his stuff and most of all that this 2 year contract with the French Football Federation will demand to the minimum that the tricolores qualify for the 2012 Euro. Since there is shortage of real talent right now, Blanc can’t afford to kick himself in the foot and not count on the likes of say Lloris, Toulalan, Diaby, and Malouda. With this smart move, Blanc can then start with a clean sheet and build the team best fit to qualify for the Euro. And that will certainly mean keeping some of the 23 “black sheep”!

Maracanazos are not all Saint-Justs!

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Logo Euro 2016

After the fiasco of the 2012 Olympics bid, France has just won the right to organise the Euro in 2016. It was a close contest with Turkey, France only winning 7 votes to 6 in the 2nd round with Italy loosing out in the 1st round. I think the following factors explain the choice of France:

  • An experienced manager, Jacques Lambert, who had already been involved with the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville and even more so with the 1998 World Cup in France.
  • In a sense the chaotic organization of the 2012 Euro in Poland and Ukrania served France vs Turkey in that it was perceived as a “safer” bet.
  • A discrete but efficient lobbying (the German elector had publicly said he would vote for the French bid).
  • A style which was not too obnoxious for once.
  • An icon in the person of Zidane helped glorify the French bid.
  • A proven network of highways, trains, airports, hotels and press centers.

The winning formula had the following ingredients: quality of management, context, lobbying strengths, appropriate style, popularity and logistics.

Have I left out anything?

Maracanazos try to understand the outcome of events.

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