Eric Cantona » France

Cantona: France was enroute to Cannibalism

Linus — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 15:00:00 +0000

Eric Cantona says France’s World Cup meltdown was a blessing in disguise for the nation’s footballers.

Cantona, who won 45 caps for France, has claimed the team’s in-fighting might have turned fatal had they not flown home after the group stages.

He told the Sunday Mirror: “It is a good thing that the France team returned when it did.”

“Had they stayed out there another week, they would have ended up eating one another.”

“Thankfully we have avoided an outbreak of cannibalism.”

Cantona also welcomed the arrival of Laurent Blanc, himself a former United player, as Raymond Domenech’s replacement.

He added: “Laurent is a great coach. He will lift the France team out of its current troubles.”

Cantona: I’m Behind England

Linus — Thu, 20 May 2010 15:44:25 +0000

Eric Cantona has once again courted controversy by declaring that he will be supporting England at the World Cup in South Africa this summer, and not his native Les Bleus.

In an article in free newspaper Metro, Cantona said, “I will support England. I am half Marseilles, half English.” He also added that he wouldn’t be attending the World Cup in South Africa, but would be fully behind the English team as they strive to win their first trophy in over 40 years.

Cantona has won most of his trophies in England, and is lauded as one of the most iconic and talented players the Premier League has ever seen. He is also attributed to leading Manchester United to their glory years in the 1990s, and is so revered in Manchester they still chant his name at games.

Cantona: Being French ‘revolutionary’

Linus — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 00:00:29 +0000

Eric Cantona has given his opinion on the sensitive debate about the French national identity, deriding what he called the “stupid” nationalist approaches to the issue.

“Being French, does that mean having to speak French, sing the Marseillaise? That’s just stupid,” said Cantona, who is the son of Spanish and Italian immigrants.

“I’m not saying that singing the Marseillaise is stupid, but building the whole debate on that is.”

The singing of the national anthem has become a hot topic in France, after several incidents when football fans of North African origin booed while it was sung at international football matches.

Immigration Minister Eric Besson has called for it to be sung in schools.

Speaking at the launch of a book of photographs he has taken of homeless people and poverty in France for a Catholic charity, Cantona urged the French to stand up for the deprived.

“Being French means being revolutionary… We cannot accept everything that’s happening,” he said, criticising what he sees as his compatriots’ passivity in the face of France’s social problems.

“We are getting used to this system, to there being people living in the street.”

Cantona: I would have hit Henry

Linus — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 06:00:15 +0000

Eric Cantona says he would have hit Thierry Henry if he was one of the Republic of Ireland players cheated of their World Cup spot.

Cantona said: “What shocks me the most quite frankly, is not the hand-ball.”

“What shocks me the most is that this player, at the end of the game, in front of the TV cameras, went to sit down next to an Ireland player to comfort him – when he had just screwed him.”

Cantona could not believe Henry continued to sit and chat with Republic of Ireland defender Richard Dunne at the end of the match after his handball set up William Gallas for the goal which ended Ireland’s World Cup dream in Paris.

Cantona, infamous for his kung-fu kick at a fan, added: “If I had been an Irishman, he wouldn’t have lasted three seconds.”

Cantona will be in Dubai for friendlies

Linus — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 00:00:20 +0000

Eric Cantona is jetting into Dubai to lead a French team in a series of friendly matches during the build-up for the 2009 Fifa World Beach Soccer World Cup. Cantona is the coach of the French national team and, barring some last-minute changes, is confirmed to be in Dubai late Sunday.

“Last week, Eric’s wife delivered a baby, but when I spoke to him a couple of days back, he confirmed to us that he will come to Dubai with the team,” said Joan Cusco, Member of the Fifa Futsal and Beach Soccer Committee.

After his retirement from football, Cantona got involved in promoting beach soccer and successfully led his team to the World Cup title in Brazil in 2005 when France beat Portugal in the final.

“For the moment, he has confirmed 100 per cent that he will be in Dubai on November 8,” Cusco said.

France is scheduled to play friendly matches against Uzbekistan (November 9and the UAE (November 11) as a build-up for the 2009 Fifa Beach Soccer World Cup to be held at Umm Suqueim Beach in Jumeirah from November 16 to 22.

France failed to qualify for the World Cup this year.

Cantona to have stadium named after him

Linus — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 05:34:41 +0000

Eric Cantona inaugurated a football stadium named after him in the French town of Tignes, local authorities said.

French champions Lyon train at the facility, as do the French national team, but it recently underwent a facelift and Cantona was on hand to open the renovated ground.

The turf has also been relaid, staff said, with Lyon currently in town to prepare for the new season.

Cantona, 42, was in Tignes for his Euro Beach Soccer tournament which he runs with brother Joel, with the Savoy resort hosting an annual event.

Cantona doesn’t want Deschamps as manager

Linus — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 03:24:04 +0000

Eric Cantona has been far from impressed with Les Bleus in recent years and insists that Didier Deschamps is not the coach to turn around French fortunes.

Les Bleus tumbled meekly out of Euro 2008 at the group stage, prompting 45-times capped ‘King Eric’ to slam the football being played by his countrymen at international level.

In fact, Cantona thinks winning the 1998 World Cup was like drinking from a poisoned chalice as it prompted a decade of ‘boring’ football.

Still, he doesn’t feel a change of manager will do much good if Didier Deschamps replaces Raymond Domenech, because he feels Deschamps will offer more of the same.

Cantona told Sport: “What I see from the France team is everything I hate in football.

“With Les Bleus having won a World Cup by playing a boring game, we came away thinking that it was impossible to play any other way.

“But nothing says they wouldn’t have won by playing attractive football.

“On the footballing side of things, to name Deschamps would be, in my opinion, a continuation of Domenech.”

Cantona: I’ll be the best manager in the world

Linus — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 00:26:34 +0000

Eric Cantona has revealed to Le Parisien that soon, perhaps after next month’s beach soccer World Cup, he will pursue yet another vocation.

“I will return to 11-a-side football just to become the best manager in the world – and that’s exactly what I’ll become,” trumpeted the man whom Manchester United fans still call King. “I will do the job as a creator and an artist. I want to give football something new.”

Asked where he foresaw this dream unfolding, Cantona ruled out his native France, saying, “Ligue 1 is miserable. It should be banned! We don’t have the best players in the world but most of all the managers are a pain in the ass … they shouldn’t be allowed to advocate such a cautious way of playing.”

Cantona does not aspire to lead his country, even though he claimed he would do a much better job than either the current incumbent, Raymond Domenech, or the rumoured heir, Didier Deschamps. “Obviously I would be the ideal person to manage France,” he quipped. “I would be able to put in place a more attractive style. Deschamps would be just a continuation of Domenech. But I don’t want the job and I certainly won’t be offered it.”

Cantona said his preferred place of employment would be Old Trafford or Soho Square. “English football flows through my veins and I would love to offer my vision to the English because it is a very beautiful vision.”

Source: The Guardian