Three vie for France coach job

By James Whelan

THE battle over the appointment of France’s new national coach drags on a month after their World Cup humiliation, but the shortlist to replace axed Roger Lemerre has come down to three names.

“The odds are on Raymond Domenech, Philippe Troussier and Jacques Santini in that order,” a member of the French league council (LNF), requesting anonymity, said yesterday.

On Tuesday, the council met French Football Federation president Claude Simonet, who is in charge of selecting of the new coach.

The meeting was behind closed doors but LNF sources confirmed that debate centred on the candidacy of three men: France under-21 coach Domenech, Troussier, who guided co-hosts Japan to the last 16 of the World Cup, and Santini, manager of French champions Olympique Lyon.

“We drew a list of good points and bad points for each of them without declaring a clear winner,” the sources said.

Other early candidates dropped out of the picture like Jean-Francois Domergue, a former Paris St Germain manager who steered Le Havre to promotion last season, and former international midfielder Alain Giresse, who coaches Morocco’s FAR Rabat.

The power struggle that is hotting up between the FFF, the LNF and the DTN is so fierce that Simonet has not been able to set a deadline.

He mentioned July 26, then said he hoped to settle the problem “between July 14 and July 22” only to concede that the important thing was to appoint the new coach before France’s first Euro 2004 qualifying game in Cyprus on September 7.

Meanwhile, Atletico Madrid have signed Brazilian midfielder Emerson from Deportivo Coruna on a three-year contract. He will join his new team-mates on July 18.

Elsewhere, Argentine international midfielder Matias Almeyda has signed a three-year contract with Inter Milan, leaving rivals Parma in a swap with Slovak defender Vratislav Gresko.Almeyda will begin training with Inter on Monday.