A Small redemption for French Football

After the disaster that was France's run at this summer's World Cup, the FFF (French Football Federation) got to see some light at the end of and very long tunnel as the French under 19 squad won the European championship Friday with a 2-1 win over the Spanish. No one has ever accused the French of producing bad footballers, Clairefontaine is one of the premier training academies in the world. However the people's faith in the structure of the senior team has spread to the other squads in the setup.

However a massive amount of credit has to be given to the U-19 squad who did not allow the negative events of the senior team affect their play. Looking at the team the star of the tournament was Gael Kakuta who is a Chelsea prospect. He was fabulous during the run to the title and looks like a bright player for the future.

This is the reason I love watching youth tournaments, you get to see the future of the game and see some young players make their mark. You also get to see how certain countries are developing their players. If you only watch senior level matches you really don't get a sense of where the national football association is really going with the squad. The U-20 World Cup that was held in Canada in 2007 was an excellent chance to see how other nations built their game, although Canada did not win a game they took it as a learning experience.

If they can keep their heads on their shoulders the senior squad manager Laurent Blanc will have a very good squad to choose from in the near future.

Cheers,
Mike