Chapter 133: Santini's Ambition
For now, the name Santini will hardly occupy an important place in the history of French football. The pen www.biquge.info the meritorious coach and stubborn old man Jacques, who won the Hercules Cup for France, which is groundbreaking and always unforgettable. Fresh from his boots and whip up, Didier Deschamps proved that he was as good as he was in charge and in football, and he led Monaco to the semi-finals of the Champions League.
Any coach caught between these two superstars would be unfortunate, and perhaps the only thing Santini can do is to extend his replacement period as long as possible, and the European Championships are one such chance, at least if he will try to surpass his unfortunate predecessor Le Maire.
If you look at the current results, maybe Santini will get a good assessment: won all the Confederations Cup in 2003, won all 14 international matches (and then drew with the Netherlands and Brazil, and remained unbeaten in 16 games). However, let's not forget that there were also excellent results under Le Maire, including winning the European Championship, which was far more important than the Confederations Cup, but all of this was a passing thing with the disastrous defeat at the 2002 World Cup in South Korea and Japan.
It's all blame for Jacquet's overly brilliant results, and even when Le Maire won the European Championship, he was ridiculed as nothing more than a sloppy follower. It has been 6 years since Jacques started in 1998, and if you look at the French team, the team is still Jacques's team. Zhuge has been cautious all his life, and he has a bold performance of empty city plans, but the conservative Santini seems to be even better in this regard, and he basically rejects any new changes.
The goalkeeper of the French team is Barthes, the main central defender is Desailly, the midfield command is Zidane, and the striker is of course Henry.
Mex, known as Blanco's successor, was not named in the French squad, and the 1982-born youngster would have been able to bring a breath of fresh air to the aging French backline. French goalkeeper Frei, who plays for Parma, has also not won the favor of Santini, and Barthes, who was swept away by Manchester United, still occupies the position of France's first goalkeeper, and it seems that the tragedy of Spain in the 2002 World Cup in South Korea and Japan because of the old goalkeeper may be repeated. As for Miku, it can only be his misfortune to be born in the same era as Zidane, but it is too strange that the current super midfielder of the Bundesliga can't even make the squad, could it be that he and his team-mate, Brazilian Ayrton of Bremen, have the same disease that is not favored by the national team manager?
What makes Jacquet great is that he dared not use Cantona, Ginola, or Anelka, but showed the world a new French team. This great pioneering spirit disappeared without a trace in Santini, which is the fundamental reason why Santini, the successor, has never been able to surpass it.
Of course, Santini also has its own advantages. In his own playing days, he played as a defender for the prestigious Saint-Etienne team, which was also successful; As a coach, he won the French league championship in the 2001-2002 season. This is the main reason why he beat several big names to become the head coach of France in 2002. However, after this step, he gradually embarked on the same path as Le Maire: he could appease the veterans of the team, but it was difficult to find new ones; He can continue to carry on the good points of his predecessors, but it is difficult to adapt them.
Portugal 2004 will be an opportunity for Santini. So far, at least, Santini's plan has been successful, and the defeat to Sweden has put him under a lot of pressure in order to avoid hosts Portugal, but the gains are no less huge, and it is far easier to face Greece than Portugal. Therefore, he thinks that this will be an easy semi-final, and he will be one step closer to his goal, if he wins the championship, he may stay in the position of head coach of the French national team until 2006, otherwise, the head coach of the defending champion of France will suffer the same fate as Le Maire.