It was 16:00 when, in the Field of dreams training camp in Knysna, the players from France stood. While some players attended the fans, a few meters from there they were Patrice Evra and Robert Ruverne, physical trainer, those who openly discussed. It was rumored that Evra reproached Ruverne for being the mole of that concentration, although both ended up denying it. Domenech had to intervene to separate them and, annoyed by the attitude of the left back, he blew his whistle and left the field. After discussing it, Domenech got off the bus with a letter from his players in which they expressed their discomfort at the decision to expel Anelka and indicated that they did not want to train. The bus headed back to the hotel without the coach.
The delegate director of the French Federation, Jean-Louis Valentin, could not take it anymore: “The players don't want to train. It's a shame. I'm going back to Paris to resign.”. The matter reached the president of the republic, Nicolas Sarkozy, who ordered his Minister of Health and Sports, Roselyne Bachelot, to find a solution to the conflict to save the embarrassing image France was giving to the entire world.
Ribéry, one of the stars of that team, interrupted a live interview with Domenech on French television to say, on the verge of tears: “Everyone laughs at us”. “The team is an honor, a child's dream, but since the 2008 Euro Cup there have been nothing but problems,” said the Bayern player, who finished: “We have been going through difficult times for days. We are suffering. This has exploded. France is suffering. I say this with my heart. I am suffering.”
Zidane, noted
On its website, the newspaper Liberation ensured that Zidane spoke with Evra, Ribéry, Henry and Gallas to change the scheme and make a couple of changes in eleven. Domenech accepted this proposal until he learned that it came from Zizou, when he became angry and radically changed his mind.
“What the players have done has been aberration and imbecility. I don't know which team I will line up under these conditions. But what is certain is that it has always been me who has made the alignment “, I would say in the preview of the match against South Africa, the last of the group stage.
Days later, Zidane, in an advertising act, defended himself. “I am not the revolutionary, I am not in the team. I did not get into tactical questions when I played or I am not going to do it now. I have never said who should play and things like that. I am outside, the one who says that I command the team is a liar“he said in an interview in which, it should be remembered anecdotally, that he was blunt in his response” no, I don't see myself as a coach. “
In the aforementioned interview that Ribéry interrupted, the French took the opportunity to deny this alleged meeting with Zidane and the ex-footballer's order. He also denied that there was a confrontation between him and Yohann Gourcuff.