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The World Champions of pessimism. Thats what the outstanding journalist Simon Kuper calls the French. Hed know, he has lived amongst them for over 10 years. Kuper, writer of all things good, said last year in a piece for the Financial Times that schooling in the country was one of the key reasons for the countrys negativity. Early childhood here is mostly happy, but then French schools seem to make people miserable for life. I first glimpsed this when my wife and I went to a parent-teacher meeting. It was the only one we were granted all year, so we were itching to hear about our daughters triumphs. This teacher saw her job solely as pointing out shortcomings. Thats pretty much the essence of French schooling, notes Peter Gumbel in his shocking book On achève bien les écoliers (They Shoot School Kids, Dont They?). French pupils, Gumbel explains, are almost never praised and frequently told they are worthless. Gumbel has not written a book on the state of the current French football team but if he chose to he could use the same description of their players. Since losing 2-0 in Ukraine last Friday, Frances national footballers had been taken out to the schoolyard and given a good hiding by the media and the public. LEquipe started Friday with the front page headline Everyone is behind Les Blues, but after a loss in Kiev, the country were not behind them at all. A poll taken by Le Parisien revealed 83.6 per cent felt France would not qualify for Brazil 2014. The 2-0 deficit played a part, but overall it reflected the general feeling the people of France had towards their national team. The French public had had enough. It is not hard to sympathize with them. Since getting to the World Cup final in 2006, France were pathetic at Euro 2008 and disgraced at the World Cup in 2010, failing to win a match at both tournaments. The players revolted against then coach Raymond Domenech and when Laurent Blanc took over, the 23 players in South Africa were disregarded for the first game, with some, such as Patrice Evra and Franck Ribery, suspended by their own football federation for their behaviour. Blanc steadied the ship for a while, but when they lost a crucial match at Euro 2012 against Sweden, he admitted the camp had issues inside the dressing room: "It kicked off because all the players felt that everyone hadnt given everything." Frances loss meant they faced Spain, who would easily beat them in the quarter finals, and negative tactics coupled with poor behaviour towards the countrys media saw them exit in disgrace again. This time Blanc had had enough. France were again a national time divided. In 2013, it is harder than ever to get true unity with a national team. More than ever, players ply their trades for clubs away from their home country. They are individuals linked by nothing more than a passport and that is certainly the way France have played in qualifying for the World Cup. They started the campaign as the team no seed wanted to face, the 10th-best side in Europe according to the world rankings, and the moment they got Spain, they looked like a team stuck in third gear waiting for the playoffs. A smaller European group denied them a chance to climb the rankings, appearing once again in a draw unseeded. They were the team no seeded team wanted to face, once again. Ukraine were the unlucky ones, we were told. Yet, in the first leg France were predictably poor. A team lacking leadership who lost the plot when down a goal. Ukraine no longer believed they were worth fearing and France looked like a team who knew what the rest of Europe didnt - they were not as good as people thought. "Someone who is a starter at Real Madrid, cant be as bad as that?" harshly asked French Football Federation president Noel Le Graet earlier in qualifying but, in truth, he was right. Many of the French players looked nothing like those who played for their clubs. "Bravery! More Bravery! screamed LEquipes headline last weekend. And so with the nation angry with their national team once again, Didier Deschamps team had one last chance to get them back. A packed house at the Stade de France certainly didnt reflect the mood of the nation, getting behind their team from the moment the national anthem sung. Five changes were made to the French team that lost in Ukraine and everyone of them made a difference. In Mathieu Valbuena, France had vision and desire to attack in the final third, to push Ukraine deep and force their defenders to give away unnecessary fouls. In the 22nd minute, the Marseille man sent in a brilliant free kick that Ribery got on the end of and his powerful shot rebounded out to Mamadou Sakho to score his first international goal. Sakho, like Benzema, was one of the five changes made by Deschamps, and the Real Madrid man made it 2-0 soon after when he took the ball, which bounced off Valbuena, and into his path, to slot home. Stade de France erupted and the linesman, crucially, kept his flag down despite the striker being way offside. It was difficult to feel sorry for Ukraine, however, as five minutes earlier Benzema had a legitimate goal ruled out for offside. In 34 minutes, France had gotten back on level terms. Except, it wasnt. The archaic away goals rule that UEFA continues to adopt in these qualifiers meant France were on edge throughout. Brave was indeed the word of the day as Yohan Cabaye, another one of the famous five, led a brilliant resolute French side at 2-0, popping up in key areas to make crucial interceptions and tackles. Ukraine, down to 10 men after the dismissal of Yevhen Khacheridi, knew one goal would be enough. At 2-0, France still had it all to do, yet it was at these nervous times when they looked their most mature. They looked like a side that felt they would score, but knew the importance of not conceding. The goal would come, they felt, and come it did. From a second phase of a corner, Mathieu Debuchys cross wasnt dealt with by Ukraines defence and when Riberys strike came across goal it was knocked into his own net by Oleg Gusev. Deschamps, the former skipper who lifted the World Cup in that very stadium fifteen years ago, once stood for everything that was great in French football. Now, he stood powerless. He would kick and head every ball from the sideline for the next 20 minutes until the final whistle put him and his country out of their misery. Deschamps was lifted into the air by his players and coaching staff and hundreds of Tricolour flags flew inside the stadium. France had found themselves and a performance many didnt know they had left in them. The French may be pessimistic, but they are just as passionate. Tonight, the world champions of pessimism can love their national team once again. Isaiah Oliver Falcons Jersey . On the day after Billy Horschel posted his 12th straight round in the 60s, won his second straight tournament against a world-class field and picked up an additional $10 million bonus as the FedEx Cup champion, Watson was kicking back in his seat at a Kansas City Royals game. Calvin Ridley Falcons Jersey .Y. -- The New York Islanders were merely content with a lopsided victory. http://www.falconsauthenticofficialonline.com/authentic-logan-paulsen-jersey.html . The top-ranked Williams carried her winning momentum from 2013 into the new season, beating No. 2-ranked Victoria Azarenka 6-4, 7-5 on Saturday to defend her title at the Brisbane International and set the tone for the Australian Open. Brandon Fusco Falcons Jersey . TSNs Farhan Lalji reports the Edmonton Eskimos non-import DT has a workout scheduled with an NFL team next week and isnt expected to sign a deal with any team until then. Deadrin Senat Falcons Jersey . According to a report from ESPN, the Green Bay Packers have re-signed the cornerback to a four-year, $39 million deal with a $12.Winnipeg Jets 5 Calgary Flames 2 (Jets 21-23-5, 10-13-1 road) – The win makes it two straight for the Jets under new head coach Paul Maurice, and after snapping a five-game home losing streak Monday, the Jets snapped a three-game road losing streak with the win in Calgary. It was the Flames seventh straight home loss, a new franchise mark. The Jets opened the scoring with Bryan Little notching his 16th of the year, putting home the rebound off a Michael Frolik back hand shot. Andrew Ladd also drew an assist, time of the marker was 5:01. Dustin Byfuglien with his 11th from Olli Jokinen and Chris Thorburn at 8:11 put the Jets ahead 2-0 after one, the shots 10-8 Jets. The Jets added two more in the second, Mark Scheifele with his eighth from Blake Wheeler and Thorburn, followed by Jokinen on the power play from Ladd and Little. Jokinen has now scored in back to back games and has 13 on the season. Shots were 6-3 Jets in the second. In both periods the Jets forecheck gave the Flames problems. The Flames came out with a push to start the third and Mark Giordano with his eighth got the Flames on the board and put the Jets on their heels. Then a key sequence of events: A Jokinen penalty put the Flames on the power play, Ondrej Pavelec made a terrific left pad save of Mikael Backlund, a strong play along the boards by Frolik resulted in a penalty to Dennis Wideman, and while four-on-four Jacob Trouba with his fifth restored the four-goal lead. Pavelec would be superb the rest of the game as he kept the Flames from narrowing the gap, and has now won back to back games. Lance Bouma on a deflection made it 5-2 but Pavlec keept the Flames from getting any closer.dddddddddddd Shots in the third were 11-7 Calgary. Jokinen, Ladd, Little, Thorburn, Scheifele and Wheeler all had two points each in the game as the Jets go back to back with five goals scored. Jets have seven players in double digits in goals, last year, after 48 games they had three. After a 14-point shortened season last year, Jokinen has 31 points, and 17 in his last 21 games.? Byfuglien extended his point streak to four games (2-4-6) and has 10 points in his last seven games, 15 points including six goals in his last 13 games. It was Byfugliens 499th NHL game. Scheifele has 6-11-17 in the last 19 games and continues to lead all NHL rookies in assists. Trouba led the Jets in ice time at 23:25. Byfuglien and Setoguchi each had five shots on goal. Little won 13-of-19 face-offs. Postgame, coach Maurice acknowledged how critical Pavelec was to the win with the saves early in the third. Maurice did call a time out at 4-1 to settle his team down. ”We needed to talk about how we were going to handle things going forward,” Maurice said. On the play of rookies Scheifele and Trouba: “They are players, not rookies. When I throw them over the boards its because they get what they have earned. Its been solid back to back games for Scheifele.” Maurice did not feel it was an easy win. “We respected how hard they work.” The Jets now play Edmonton at MTS Centre Saturday afternoon (TSN 1290), then head to California for the first time this season, into Anaheim Tuesday and then San Jose Thursday (both games TSN Jets, TSN 1290). 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