David Trezeguet Gets Second Chance at Euro 2008

trezegue plays alike a moron

Posted from  Netherlands

It takes a bit more than a ‘moron’ to score 20 goals in Serie A. It’s amazing to me that half the French strikers had to be ill or injured for Trezeguet to get a call-up, when he’s been so brilliant at Juve this season. Not to mention a record of a goal every two matches for France, including the golden goal against Italy at Euro 2000. He’s got the experience and the form, and leaving him off of this squad would have been a decision based on personality, nothing more. It shouldn’t take Henry and Benzema coming up lame for him to be called up.

Trezeguet is a good player, and I think he might still be in the group for the Euros. But the reason Domenech hasn’t called him up recently is for two reasons: Trezeguet refuses to play on the A’ squad, and he doesn’t perform well with the current crop of NT players or with Domenech’s tactics.

As to the first, Domenech’s creation of the A’ squad was in response to the fact that he has so many talented players that he can’t accommodate, and he wants to be able to observe and experiment with different players without hurting France’s chances in important games. So it doesn’t make sense for Domenech to put four world class strikers on the A team for qualifiers and friendlies. But Trezeguet refuses to play on the A’ squad (which is a bad attitude on his part), and who would you drop out of Henry, Anelka, and Benzema? Henry hasn’t been at his greatest, but he’s still France’s all time leading scorer and was responsible for some very important goals in qualifying. Anelka is resurrecting his career for the EDF and works well with all the players. As for Benzema…well, he’s France’s future – right now.

About the second, Domenech did call him up several times last year, but no matter who he was partnered with, it was apparently that it’s difficult to accommodate a goal poacher in a team that requires its strikers to contribute creativity. Henry, Benzema, and Anelka are good at tracking back and starting offensive movements. They don’t just hang around in the not-quite-offside position and wait for a strategic pass. Not that I’m trying to downplay Trezeguet’s talents – he has an eye for the goal, and he’ll score when he gets the service he needs. But France right now can’t provide that service.

What people don’t get about Domenech is that this isn’t a vendetta. He doesn’t care about anything except how his team performs. He’s not out to make friends with his players, and he isn’t above recalling someone he’s previously snubbed. For example, Anelka, Coupet, and most recently Mexes have bad mouthed Domenecb publicly, and he’s not holding it against them. But Trezeguet just doesn’t fit in with his plans. And at the end of the day, you have to allow the coach to decide the tactics.

Let’s put it this way: If France doesn’t do well in Euros, what are people going to say? That they failed because they only had Henry, Benzema, Anelka, Ribery, and Cisse?

Posted from  United States