France's 'beautiful adventure' over

France's World Cup-winning coach Aime Jacquet has declared "the beautiful adventure" which saw Les Bleus dominate international football over.

The French side which drew 0-0 with the Republic of Ireland at the weekend was missing much of the elan with which their predecessors won the 1998 World Cup and Euro 2000.

The draw with the Irish came on the back of a goalless meeting with Israel and Jacquet believes that, with the likes of Zinedine Zidane, Lillian Thuram and Bixente Lizarazu retiring after a disappointing European Championships, their era of success could be over.

"We have been aware for a while that the beautiful adventure for French football is over," Jacquet, who defended current France coach Raymond Domenech, told Le Monde.

"The team's performance at the 2002 World Cup was a complete disaster whereas the latest Euro confirmed the end of a cycle.

"It is in that context that we chose our new coach.

"Raymond Domenech has had to start from scratch after several key elements of the team decided to stop their international careers.

"Lizarazu, Thuram and Zidane were three leaders and their departure has deprived the French team of considerable experience.

"Now, apart from (Fabien) Barthez, (Robert) Pires, (Thierry) Henry and (Patrick) Vieira, the team's players have very little experience."
Despite the current problems, Jacquet is convinced Domenech is the man to lead France back to the top.

"Unless you have been a national coach, you cannot understand what such a responsibility entails," he said.

"Raymond has the personality and competence for the job, even if it was tough for him, as it would have been for any person who starts something new.

"His main problem at the moment is to create a new team. But he has the right players to succeed."