French (football) farce

Now that we only have decent (in all senses) teams left in the World Cup, should anyone spare a thought for the sordid antics of our French representatives? Today Maverick Malouda shoots his mouth off - considerably better than he does at goal - and Thuram (rightly) calls for Evra to be banned from the national team. The government huffs and postures, ready for a monumental punch-up with FIFA (another bunch of *******) - but does no-one see the obvious parallel between sport and society? Four years ago France had a great team. Now let's see, what has changed so radically in France in the last four years? Duh......