Domenech stays on as France soccer coach

[TheGift]

PARIS (AP)—Raymond Domenech will remain France’s soccer coach despite a first-round exit at last month’s European Championship and will now have a chance to lead the team at the 2010 World Cup.

Jean-Pierre Escalettes, president of the French soccer federation, said he did not want to make a rash decision based on the outcry that followed Euro 2008.

“Domenech’s record is not that bad as coach,” he said. “It is not catastrophic. He qualified us two straight times for a major competition,” the 2006 World Cup and Euro 2008. “I did not want emotion and passion to get the better of reason.”

Escalettes said council members voted 18-0 to keep Domenech, with one abstention. However, he suggested things could change if France does not get off to a good start in its 2010 qualifying campaign.

“Everyone is fully aware that the French team must evolve,” he said. “We will see where things are in mid-October. But we have not asked him to sign a contract.”

He also insisted that Domenech communicate better, criticizing the coach for remarks that were “sometimes like pouring vinegar on a wound.”

Domenech’s team was among the favorites at Euro 2008 two years after reaching the World Cup final. But two-time European champs failed to win a game and scored only one goal, in a 4-1 loss to the Netherlands. The French also drew 0-0 with Romania before losing 2-0 to Italy.

“The failure was collective and everyone must take their part of the blame,” French football league president Frederic Thiriez said in apologizing to fans of the French team.

Former France captain Didier Deschamps had been among the candidates to replace Domenech. Several members of France’s 1998 World Cup winning team, including Zinedine Zidane, backed Deschamps.

France has a World Cup qualifier at home against Serbia on Sept. 10. Before that, France is away to Austria on Sept. 6 and plays in Romania on Oct. 11. It also plays at Sweden in an exhibition Aug. 20.

Domenech stays on as France soccer coach - World Soccer - Yahoo! Sports