SOCCER
Domenech stays with France
Posted Tue, 11 Jul 2006

France football coach Ramond Domenech has been given a new contract in charge of the team he took to within a penalty shootout of World Cup glory.

"The federation board has unanimously agreed to propose to Raymond Domenech that he continue as coach," said the president of the French Football Federation (FFF) Jean-Pierre Escalettes.

He said that the finer details of the new contract, including its length, would be decided at a later meeting of the federation board in August.

Domenech, a former coach of the French under-21 side, took over as national coach after Euro 2004 in Portugal when France crashed out in the quarterfinals.

He succeeded Jacques Santini, and immediately allowed top players such as Zinedine Zidane, Lilian Thuram and Claude Makelele to retire from international play.

But his refashioned French side struggled through their early World Cup qualifiers, and Domenech came in for heavy criticism.

Eventually he had to relent and agree to the return of the retired players, who promptly made certain that France would play in the finals in Germany.

They got off to a slow start in their group, but went from strength to strength with Zidane at the helm defeating Spain, Brazil and Portugal on the way to the final.

In Berlin on Sunday, though, they endured a heart-breaking loss to Italy 5-3 on penalties after the game had finished tied 1-1 after extra-time.

Domenech has already left to go on holiday, and was not immediately available for comment.

France's next game is a friendly against Bosnia-Herzegovina at the Stade de France on August 16, with their Euro 2008 qualifiers getting underway with a game away to Georgia on September 2.

AFP