Euro 2012: Malouda says fight after loss brought back WC phantom
The French midfielder accepted that the players were involved in a heated bust-up following their 2-0 defeat to Sweden and accepted that it brought back memories of their notorious 2010 World Cup walk out.
French midfielder Florent Malouda has accepted that the players were involved in a heated bust-up following their 2-0 defeat to Sweden in their Group D final match in the Euro Cup, and accepted that it brought back memories of their notorious 2010 World Cup walk out.
France, which was hit by internal dissension at the 2010 World Cup, relented against the Swedes on Tuesday, and would have lost more heavily if goalkeeper Hugo Lloris had not made several saves.
Although the defeat did not prevent France from advancing to a quarterfinal against Spain, it did cast shadows on the existing team spirit in the squad
"What I saw (against Sweden) awoke some demons in me and I didn't want to express myself," Stuff.co.nz quoted Malouda, as saying.
"Because in the heat of the moment there was the risk of launching rockets and missiles. There are some things to sort out and sometimes you can really hurt someone with a comment that you make," he added.
"Sometimes you need to aim a few bursts of gunfire at each other. We said quite a few things to each other afterward in the dressing room," he said.