France's Problems Go Beyond Pitch, Staff

We all know what a mess France's soccer team has been on the pitch.

Well, most of us know.  Recently, I was on the phone with somebody who was trying to convince me of the virtues of the French team.  

It's an easy argument to make.  All you need is proper nouns:  "Ribèry!  Toulalan!  Henry!  Malouda!  Ankela!  Evra!  Lloris!"

My argument is more intricate but still pretty clear:  The team itself is not very good but world-class, title-winning standards.  Even with their great run in Germany, you could argue Les Blues have not played well consistently for eight years.

Given they have one of the four most talented teams in the world (guess the other three - it's easy), the problems lie off the pitch.  Bringing Raymond Domenech back after a disastrous Euro 2008 was inexplicable giving the depth of French coaching talent in Ligue 1 as well as the rest of international football.

In recent weeks we've heard word of the off-the-pitch problems increasing, increasing in a very unfortunate way.

Today, USA Today gives us a story that has been circulating around France for a while.  Franck Ribèry, Karim Benzema and Sidney Govou are involved in a sex scandal featuring an underage prostitute who ... I'll just paste in part of the article, because this is not the reason why I started writing about soccer:

The AP reports no charges have been filed. Prostitution is legal in France, but clients are liable if the prostitute isn't over 18 years old, the AP says, and offenders face up to three years in prison and a $60,000 fine.

The woman in question, Zahia Dehar, now 18, has told police she had underage sex with all three players, according to the Daily Telegraph. The English newspaper reported her saying she was "shocked" the players faced charges and that she told them she was an adult. She also the players had treated her "with utter respect" and should be left alone.

The Daily Telegraph says Dehar was one of 18 girls questioned by police after a raid last week on the Café Zaman, a nightclub on the Champs Elysee. Police said she has cooperated and doesn't face criminal charges.

After that, let's make some things clear, because this could be a bit more sensationalized than it need be.  As the passage says, prostitution is legal, and although Dehar was not old enough to work as a prostitute, she was of legal age (which is 15, in France).

Which all begs the question:  Why am I bothering relaying the information?

Whether this should be a story or not, it is.  The press in France is covering it, and the players are responding (Ribèry has admitted to having sex with Dehar).  I'm not saying this influenced Ribèry's performance yesterday, but this gossip-circus does play into the atmosphere surrounding the team.

France's biggest problem since Euro 2008 has been disorganization.  They lack cohesion on the pitch, failing to play with any tactical discipline.  They seem to take it for granted that their talent will win out, which is why they had so many problems in the playoff against Giovanni Trapattoni's Ireland.

The team needs to focus, and while these distractions won't necessarily undermine their ability to concentrate on their June tasks, they certainly won't help.