French press predictably scathing
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Your support makes all the difference.The French press have been predictably scathing today following Les Bleus' humiliating first-round exit at the World Cup.
France crashed out of the tournament with a 2-1 defeat to South Africa which left them with just one point from their three group matches and bottom of their pool.
The media have accepted they have become the "laughing stock" as their campaign floundered on and off the pitch and most have hailed France's World Cup exit and the end of the Raymond Domenech era as a relief.
Liberation's front page bore the headline "And again bravo!" followed by the line "Beaten 2-1 by the South Africans, Les Bleus are out of the World Cup. The tragi-comedy is finally over".
Inside, the daily newspaper screamed "And 1...and 2...and 23 zeros" as they played on the tag-line the 1998 World Cup winners, while they also went on to remind people that France were only in South Africa thanks to Thierry Henry's handball in their play-off victory against the Republic of Ireland.
"Vae Victis. (Woe to the vanquished ones)," read an article. "After all, this team that have just flopped miserably started by cheating."
Regional newspapers Sud-Ouest and La Provence were both delighted the misery was over, with the former proclaiming: "Rarely would defeat have been welcomed with so much relief. It would have been better if Les Bleus had never gone to South Africa."
La Provence's front page screamed: "It's over and so much the better" followed by a look to the future and the Laurent Blanc era with the words "Calamitous on the pitch like off it, Les Bleus have to move onto rebuilding".
Sports daily L'Equipe, which bore the headline "The end of a world", were also looking ahead as they urged the government "to go to the end of their powers so that the FFF (French Football Federation) is not any more in the hands of dummies".
Le Progres did not mince their words as their front page simply said "Bye dummies!"
Le Journal de la Haute-Marne was almost as dismissive as they announced "Failing to give good performances on the pitch, the French players still achieved a good feat: becoming the laughing stock of the entire world".
Meanwhile, France Soir were not optimistic about the immediate future as they ran with the ominous headline "And now, the great mess".
They also reminded people of shock ramifications to come as under the headline and on top of a picture of Domenech and Patrice Evra was the captain's words of a potentially explosive press conference this week: "My coach forbade me from speaking but France will soon know the truth".
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