The French needs to find players of winning mentality according to the former international defender Willy Sagnol. The France national team was hugely successful during the turn of the century after they managed to lift everything from the World Cup to the European championship. However, they have not been successful in major tournaments since then. Even though they managed to reach the final of the 2006 World Cup, it was an isolated success amongst many failures. The recent failures include not being able to get past the group stage of a major competition in the last three.

In order to do well at the 2014 FIFA World Cup, France recently appointed the former Marseille manager. However, the former French international Willy Sagnol believes that the change needs to be brought out in the mentality of the players. The current crop of international players have been criticised for putting personal accolades over the benefit of the team. Willy Sagnol believes it is the case and that it can be changed only by the addition of players who are willing to go to the team in front of their personal interests. France also needs to find players with a winning mentality.

“We need winners. That is what is lacking in French culture generally, and it’s not easy to develop. While you can improve a player’s technical ability and help him evolve, it is hard to change the mentality. Once they are in a high-level structure, that must be mandatory, it must have the same importance as technical education,” said the French defender in a recent interview. Willy Sagnol retired from the game three years ago after suffering a major injury. He is right now coaching the young players of the French international teams. France will be having a tough World Cup qualification group.