Christian Karembeu, part of the France World Cup winning squad in 1998, said it was the behaviour of the players that worried him rather than their performance in the recent Euro 2012.
“We don’t have to worry about their exit but we need to really worry about behaviours in the team,” said Karembeu, who is in Dubai participating in the Dubai Indoor Football Championship at the Dubai World Trade Centre.
Samir Nasri, Hatem Ben Arfa, Jeremy Menez and Yann M'Vila have all been accused of misbehaviour during the recently concluded Euro 2012 and will face the French Football Federation disciplinary panel end of this month.
“Discipline is very important nowadays and if that’s there they can go all the way to top,” he added.
Karembeu believed the hiring of new coach Didier Deschamps can change things for France. His captain during the 1998 glory, Deschamps replaced Laurent Blanc as the new coach for France.
“He has the right attitude to discipline the players. I think that’s one of his topics now and he will talk to them. I hope he will sort it all and help the team reach Rio at the 2014 World Cup.”
Karembeu, who won World Cup final against Brazil in 1998 and the European Championships two years later, added: “He is a great choice. We all come from the same school of football and I think he can make it happen. He has more details and information about the boys since he will talk to Laurent.”
The 41-year-old noted he did not expect Laurent to quit after the French’s quarter-final exit. “I was thinking he was going to stay. What he had done was very positive and it was the main goal of our team after the World Cup.
“We had reached the quarter-finals and we lost to a big team who eventually won the tournament.”
Karembeu had a word of praise for Spain and said: “They are a great team. They follow a proper philosophy of the game and they have not made any changes. That’s the reason they are dominating the game and winning titles. They really deserve it,” he added.
