There are calls from senior France players for the captaincy to
be stripped from Manchester
United fullback Patrice Evra.
Evra led the team in their dismal World
Cup campaign in South Africa this summer and was
central to the squad's refusal to train the day after
Chelsea striker
Nicolas Anelka's exclusion for a
war of words with coach Raymond Domenech.
After Evra confronted fitness coach Robert Duverne, who then
stormed out of the training session and hurled his accreditation to
one side, the squad retired to the team bus and left Domenech to
read a statement to the press on their behalf.
Speaking after Friday morning's meeting of the FFF's general
council, former Juventus and
Barcelona defender Lilian Thuram
said: "I demanded that the players be harshly punished and that
Evra never returns to the France squad.
"When you are captain of the France team, you must have a
responsibility to the jersey and the people. When the players shut
themselves in the bus, and the fact that it was the coach who read
the statement, that showed that the coach was no longer
respected.
"In any group there are leaders and people who follow, and
others who do not agree and do not dare say no."