The Surrender of the French

Once again, the World Cup has given me a chance to draw parallels between the biggest sporting event in the world and major events in world history. This time, it is the French who give me this wonderful opportunity, with the apparent mutiny of the team against head coach Raymond Domenech. This is remarkably similar to actions taken by the French army on the Western Front during the Spring of 1917. Fed up with the constant, full frontal attacks against well fortified, entrenched, German positions, French soldiers did the logical thing. They stopped listening to their officers, stopped fighting, and started drinking copiously. General Philippe Petain was brought in to end the mutiny, and he did so by simply giving the soldiers more and longer leave, and by promising that no more attacks would be ordered in which French soldiers armed only with pointy bayonets were sent into walls of German machine guns and artillery.

Now, fed up with Coach Domenech, the French national soccer team seems to have lost the will to fight. Will Les Bleus find their Petain? I certainly hope not. Petain became the leader of Vichy France during World War II, appointed by and collaborating with the Nazis. If the French find a coach who decides to collaborate with the Germans, well, the rest of the soccer world might be in for a nasty surprise...