Pressure mounts on coach Domenech

CLAIREFONTAINE, France (AP) -- The pressure is building on France coach Raymond Domenech after a humiliating 3-1 loss to Austria gave Les Bleus a dismal start in qualifying for the 2010 World Cup.

Domenech kept his job despite France's embarrassing group-stage exit from the European Championships, but anything less than a victory against Serbia at Stade de France on Wednesday could end his increasingly fraught reign.

Domenech prefers to look to the future, and hopes his beleaguered team can turn things around over the nine remaining qualifying matches in Group 7, which includes Romania, Lithuania, and Faeroe Islands.

"Qualification is achieved over a series of matches. There is one coming on Wednesday against Serbia and we will have to be ready, with will and determination," Domenech said after the loss to Austria. "We will have to fight until the end."

Domenech may not be around long enough to get the chance.

In July, the French Football Federation voted to keep Domenech, but unconfirmed media reports stated that the FFF gave him a target of taking at least five points from France's first three qualifiers -- meaning France now has to beat Serbia.

Defender Patrice Evra fears another defeat would seriously hurt the team's chances of reaching a fourth straight World Cup in 2010.

"If we don't beat Serbia, there will be doubts over our qualification," Evra said.

France used to have one of the most formidable defenses in world football. Now, it seemingly has one of the weakest, with 11 goals conceded in the past four games. France has not won a competitive match since beating Lithuania 2-0 in October 2007, and any ball coming into the penalty box these days has the defenders in a blind panic.

Despite their experience playing at the highest club level, the likes of Arsenal's William Gallas and AS Roma's Philippe Mexes look completely out of sorts playing for France when a corner, or a free kick, heads their way.

Against Austria, two first-half goals from free kicks and a penalty conceded by Mexes overcame a lone goal by Sidney Govou, his third in two games and a rare positive note for Domenech.

Mexes, dropped by Domenech for Euro 2008 and then recalled after veteran Lilian Thuram's retirement, was at fault on all three goals -- including a comical rugby-style tackle on Marc Janko midway through the second half for the penalty.

"I think the penalty was very avoidable. It was more like playing rugby than football," Mexes said Sunday. "These are the types of mistakes you cannot make at international level. I am a bit disgusted with the way things went."

Domenech's tactics were again exposed, as they were during Euro 2008 when France failed to respond after going a goal down -- losing 4-1 to the Netherlands and 2-0 to Italy after drawing 0-0 against Romania.

France has not rallied to victory after conceding the first goal since beating Spain 3-1 in the second round of the 2006 World Cup. That team featured Zinedine Zidane, Patrick Vieira, Franck Ribery, Florent Malouda and Claude Makelele, none of whom played against Austria, and France clearly lack leadership.

Malouda criticized Domenech in the French press last week and was sidelined against Austria, watching the match from the stands. Others, like Robert Pires, Mexes, and David Trezeguet previously suffered the same fate for daring to speak out against Domenech's tactics or his abrasive personality.

French sports daily L'Equipe summed up the latest poor performance with a front-page headline that read "Defenseless."

"I think we could have done better," Mexes said. "On free kicks, you pick up the man, you mark him and make sure he doesn't score."

France have struggled to defend high balls into the area for a long time. The problem was crucially exposed during the 2006 World Cup final when Italy defender Marco Materazzi was left totally unmarked to head in a corner.

Since the World Cup, 11 of the 21 goals conceded by France have been from set pieces or penalties. Serbia, with powerful striker Nikola Zigic -- who is 2.02 meters tall -- are likely to probe that weakness again at Stade de France.

"We have to quickly fix that before Wednesday," France goalkeeper Steve Mandanda said Sunday. "We took a big slap and we are all disappointed. But we can't feel sorry for ourselves. We have to move on."

French fans are notoriously hard to please at Stade de France -- even jeering France off the pitch before it left for the 2002 World Cup as defending champion -- and Les Bleus are likely to get a hostile reception on Wednesday.

"I don't know what kind of reception we will get," Mandanda said. "But we hope the whole stadium gets behind us, because we need the 12th man."

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