“David Trezeguet is hands down the best finisher I’ve ever seen, and you know how much I love Dennis Bergkamp. That goal to win the Euros, people don’t understand how tough that was to finish.” -Thierry Henry
There are a lot of reasons to dislike French manager Raymond Domenech. But for me, his treatment of David Trezeguet at the 2006 World Cup and immediately after shows what kind of man he was.
Zinedine Zidane carried France to the final in Germany with Domenech preferring Thierry Henry as the lone striker in a 4-2-3-1 formation. Throughout the knockout rounds, Domenech never altered the system — he’d bring on Sidney Govou, Sylvain Wiltord and LOUIS SAHA to replace Florent Malouda, Franck Ribery and Thierry Henry and that’s how it went up until the final.
Trezeguet, who’d scored 29 goals in 41 matches for Juventus before that World Cup, was left to rot on the bench. I’ve always believed that a coach’s primary responsibility is to put his players in the greatest possible position for success — that's what they should ultimately be judged on. When Domenech threw Trezeguet into the fray in the 100th minute with France down to 10-men and penalties looming, I thought he’d failed spectacularly in that respect.
I wish Trezeguet would’ve scored with his spot kick, he deserved to, but I’m also glad that Domenech never lifted the World Cup.
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