French paradox Domenech collects jeers and records
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}By Patrick Vignal
KNYSNA, South Africa (Reuters) - Raymond Domenech looks set to win more matches with France than any other coach but remains the least popular with the fans -- a paradoxical situation at which the 58-year-old must surely allow himself a wry smile.
Jeered at almost every game for years, Domenech has coached the team for a record 77 matches and needs just one more win to beat Michel Hidalgo's mark of 41 victories.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Domenech, however, is the first France coach to qualify the national side for three successive major events and reaching the World Cup final, which he did in 2006, is an achievement many coaches would be pleased with.
It takes more than that, however, to be loved and the stubborn Lyonnais with the bushy eyebrows has faced a cloud of fan and media skepticism, not to say sheer hostility, since France's Euro 2008 flop.
After the team left that tournament with one point and one goal from the first round, the French Football Federation (FFF) surprisingly ruled Domenech could stay but asked him to improve his communication skills.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Instead he continued to annoy many with his trademark mix of indecipherable comments and dry remarks, telling reporters here that he came to meet them only because he was obliged to and starting a news conference by saying he was hungry and in a hurry.
PLAYERS RESPECT
"The coach's speech has not varied for years and has always been that some things in the media are true and others are not," defender Eric Abidal told reporters on Sunday.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"There are things from the outside that could hurt the group but we're intelligent enough not to take them into account," he added.
The team's popularity, and Domenech's in particular, has reached a depressing low since the Euro 2008 disaster and the string of uninspired performances that followed -- not to mention the playoff win over Ireland featuring Thierry Henry's handball.
An uncompromising defender with a taste for rough tackles in his playing days, Domenech will be replaced by Laurent Blanc after the World Cup and has everything to prove in South Africa.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Disliking him, he realizes, has become a national sport in France but the coach, described as clever and charming by those who know him well, also knows his relationship with the players is of a totally different nature.
"There is a discrepancy between the way he is perceived from the outside and the way he behaves with us," midfielder Jeremy Toulalan told reporters at France's World Cup base in Knysna, Western Cape.
(Editing by Ossian Shine)