Nice going France

In case you somehow forget about France's comedy of errors at the 2010 World Cup, today served as a beautiful reminder of what a mess that turned out to be: the France Football Federation suspended Nicolas Anelka (18 games), Patrice Evra (5 games), Franck Ribery (3 games) and Jeremy Toulilan (1 game).

The fifth player involved in the mutiny, Eric Abidal, didn't get suspended.

All 23 players on France's World Cup squad boycotted a training session in South Africa to protest Anelka's expulsion after he insulted then-coach Raymond Domenech during a 2-0 loss to Mexico.

But the French federation only summoned the five players who played a leading role in the mutiny. Ribery and Anelka -- whose dressing room rage triggered the strike -- sent lawyers. Ribery, who was vice captain at the World Cup, did not attend the hearing because Bayern Munich refused to release him ahead of its opening Bundesliga match on Friday against Wolfsburg.

Only Evra, Abidal and Toulalan showed up at the hearing, federation official Yann Le Guillard said.

"The players seemed sincerely sorry for what happened," said former France team director Jean-Louis Valentin, who resigned when the players refused to take part in a training session and, instead, sat in the team bus under the eye of cameras from around the world. "I felt they were very affected by that event.

"It's obvious that if they had to do it again, they wouldn't do it," Valentin said.

Domenech was among those who attended Tuesday's hearing, along with then-FFF president Jean-Pierre Escalettes and assistant coach Alain Boghossian.

Valentin, who attended the hearing as a witness and was the only one to comment later, expressed a clear measure of sympathy for what he said were chastened players. As far as he is concerned, he said, "everybody has the right to a second chance."

He said that dialogue within the group called to testify was "excellent" and that Domenech was "dignified."

"We talked again about the events. In some ways, there was a very good dialogue that was, at times, moving," Valentin said. "Everybody was aware that there was a collective mess-up, and now we have to turn the page and move on."

France was eliminated after the first round of the World Cup without winning a match. But it was the players' actions, including the squad's sit-in on the team bus, that drew condemnation from the French public, President Nicolas Sarkozy and other political leaders.

The players already have been punished financially, with the federation withholding their World Cup bonuses. Hardliners such as Lilian Thuram, a former international and a member of the FFF council, said Evra should never play for France again.

France coach Laurent Blanc dropped all 23 players for his first match in charge last week -- a 2-1 loss to Norway in an exhibition. He'll be without Anelka, Evra, Ribery and Toulalan for the 2012 European Championship qualifier in September against Belarus.

Blanc has done the right thing by trying to move on from this dark chapter in France soccer history but it's going to take a long time to erase the bitter taste of this group's pathetic actions.

Take a number: Bayern Munich hates the French too

No professional sport in the world has quite the same dynamic as soccer in the sense that club teams hate seeing their players compete for their home country and vice versa. Players are investments and only bad things can happen (in the clubs' minds) when the players leave them.

Along those lines came news today that Bayern Munich won't release its star Franck Ribery for an upcoming hearing by the French soccer federation on the national team's disaster at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

The club complained Monday that it "had to learn from the media" of plans by the federation to summon Ribery and others to Paris for a hearing Aug. 17.

The German champion said that FIFA rules oblige it only to release players for competitive matches on the international soccer calendar.

Chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge informed French federation president Fernand Duchaussoy of the decision in writing, Bayern said in a statement.

"It cannot be the case that the French federation arbitrarily hauls Franck Ribery out of his commitments at Bayern Munich," Rummenigge said. "The club's preparations for the new Bundesliga season now have priority over the French federation's processing of the World Cup."

The club said Ribery would be playing a German Cup match against Germania Windeck on Aug. 16 and would start preparing the following day for the season's first Bundesliga match, against 2009 champion Wolfsburg on Aug. 20.

The French federation opened a disciplinary case last Friday against Ribery and four others who went on strike at the World Cup -- Nicolas Anelka, Eric Abidal, Jeremy Toulalan and captain Patrice Evra.

Don't ask me why this hearing is happening so long after the World Cup, when clubs are clearly gearing up for their long campaigns. Then again, who else would this whole situation happen to but the French?

The gift that keeps on giving

What's that, you thought you'd heard the last of France's epic failure at the 2010 World Cup?

As Lee Corso would say, not so fast my friend! Today, Franck Ribery and Karim Benzema, two French national team players were issued preliminary charges for soliciting an underage prostitute.

This story surfaced right before the 2010 World Cup so it's not really going out on a limb to say it might have affected those players and the team in general.

Ribery and Benzema were questioned Tuesday as part of a probe into a suspected network of prostitutes that operated out of a nightclub on Paris' glitzy Champs-Elysees, a judicial official told The Associated Press. She was not authorized to be publicly named, according to office policy.

The scandal, which broke before the World Cup began June 11 and has been front-page news in France, includes allegations by a self-described escort girl who says Ribery flew her to visit him as a birthday present for himself when she was still under 18. Ribery is married with two children.

Real Madrid striker Benzema and Bayern Munich forward Ribery could face up to three years in prison and a $60,000 fine if found guilty of paying to have sex with a minor. They are among the most famous soccer players in France.

Both have denied any wrongdoing.

There are many more juicy details so read up on this if you're looking for a good summer trashy novel.

Ribery officially out for Champions League final

Bayern Munich and star midfielder Franck Ribery did everything in their power to try and overturn his three-game suspension but it didn't work.

He'll miss the Champions League final this Saturday, the second game of the three he has to miss for receiving a red card against Lyon in the Champions League semifinals.

It's a predictable but still disappointing ruling.

Ribery appealed to both UEFA and CAS after receiving the red card against Lyon for an over-the-ball tackle on Lisandro Lopez and was looking to turn the three-match ban into the standard one-match suspension (which he has already served).

However, after UEFA rejected their first appeal, CAS followed suit and Ribery will now miss out on the game against Inter Milan at the Bernabeu on Saturday.

A CAS statement read: ''The Court of Arbitration for Sport has rendered its final decision in the appeal filed by FC Bayern Munich and Franck Ribery against the decision taken by the UEFA Appeals Body on May 5, 2010.

''This expedited procedure was referred to a Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) Panel composed of Mr Bernhard Welten (Switzerland) President, Dr Stephan Netzle (Switzerland) and Dr Andras Gurovits (Switzerland).

''A hearing was held at the CAS headquarters today, during which the parties and their legal representatives were heard. The CAS Panel has dismissed the appeal and confirmed the three-game suspension imposed by the UEFA appeals body on the Bayern Munich player Franck Ribery.

''Accordingly, the player will not be eligible to play in the final of the 2010 Champions League. The reasons for the decision will be published by the CAS in a few days.''

It seems like rather than second-guess their offical's shaky call, CAS would like to try and sweep this under the rug.

Bayern appealing Ribery's suspension

It's been a busy couple weeks for Bayern Munich and French star Franck Ribery. He was red carded out of the first leg of Bayern's Champions League semifinal vs. Lyon last week and caught in the middle of a French prostitute scandal (as Shimer reported).

For the red card, he's supposed to be banned for three games. He sat out yesterday's 3-0 win over Lyon and by the letter of the law he'd have to miss the Final against Inter Milan and the first game of next season's European campaign.

Understandably, Bayern is appealing this and they hope to have him back for the Final. It was a bogus red card to begin with so to take away one of the game's biggest draws is silly.

Let the man play, just keep him away from those skanky French whores.

Oui Oui says Ribery and French company

I am willing to be Franck Ribery and Sidney Govou - two French star players - are fans big fans of the Red Light District. One look at the guy and I mean you have to know the only way he is getting broads is by paying them boat loads of money.

Apparently Ribery and Govou were both recently called into questioning as witnesses for a sex scandal case involving the Paris nightclub Cafe Zaman and its apparent servicing of under-age prostitutes to Les Bleus players - that's French national team for those that don't know the nick name.

One unnamed player admitted to having sex with an under-age prostitute at the club, although he said at the time he did not know the girl's age, and a pimp that supposedly provided girls at the club was arrested.

Unfortunately France does not have the same open laws to allow its journalists to exploit some of these potentially explosive stories. But where there is smoke there is fire, and I am willing to bet some more juicy details are just lurking around the corner. The player that admitted to having sex with the underage girls may face a 3-year prison sentence, and if more players are found to have participated in these acts, they could be in for some serious trouble as well.

For now the French Footballing Federation is staying behind its players simply stating:

"The French Football association have learnt about the prostitution scandal which implicates simply as witnesses at this stage some footballers from the France team. In this context the FFF would like to make the following remarks:

"The FFF would like to highlight their commitment to the principle of the presumption of innocence. The Federation has every confidence in the justice system to carry the investigation through and identify those possibly responsible.

"Not having access to the case, the Federation will abstain from any comment until the courts have given their conclusions, all the while remaining aware of the development of the proceedings and of their consequences.''

While the FFF may be standing behind its players, Lyon and Bayern Munich certainly can't be happy that the details of this investigation are emerging just a day before the first leg of their epic meeting in the Champions League semifinal in Germany. Should be an interesting story to follow for the next few weeks especially as the World Cup nears.