The World Champions of pessimism. Thats what the outstanding journalist Simon Kuper calls the French. Hed know, he has lived amongst them for over 10 years. Kuper, writer of all things good, said last year in a piece for the Financial Times that schooling in the country was one of the key reasons for the countrys negativity. Early childhood here is mostly happy, but then French schools seem to make people miserable for life. I first glimpsed this when my wife and I went to a parent-teacher meeting. It was the only one we were granted all year, so we were itching to hear about our daughters triumphs. This teacher saw her job solely as pointing out shortcomings. Thats pretty much the essence of French schooling, notes Peter Gumbel in his shocking book On achève bien les écoliers (They Shoot School Kids, Dont They?). French pupils, Gumbel explains, are almost never praised and frequently told they are worthless. Gumbel has not written a book on the state of the current French football team but if he chose to he could use the same description of their players. Since losing 2-0 in Ukraine last Friday, Frances national footballers had been taken out to the schoolyard and given a good hiding by the media and the public. LEquipe started Friday with the front page headline Everyone is behind Les Blues, but after a loss in Kiev, the country were not behind them at all. A poll taken by Le Parisien revealed 83.6 per cent felt France would not qualify for Brazil 2014. The 2-0 deficit played a part, but overall it reflected the general feeling the people of France had towards their national team. The French public had had enough. It is not hard to sympathize with them. Since getting to the World Cup final in 2006, France were pathetic at Euro 2008 and disgraced at the World Cup in 2010, failing to win a match at both tournaments. The players revolted against then coach Raymond Domenech and when Laurent Blanc took over, the 23 players in South Africa were disregarded for the first game, with some, such as Patrice Evra and Franck Ribery, suspended by their own football federation for their behaviour. Blanc steadied the ship for a while, but when they lost a crucial match at Euro 2012 against Sweden, he admitted the camp had issues inside the dressing room: "It kicked off because all the players felt that everyone hadnt given everything." Frances loss meant they faced Spain, who would easily beat them in the quarter finals, and negative tactics coupled with poor behaviour towards the countrys media saw them exit in disgrace again. This time Blanc had had enough. France were again a national time divided. In 2013, it is harder than ever to get true unity with a national team. More than ever, players ply their trades for clubs away from their home country. They are individuals linked by nothing more than a passport and that is certainly the way France have played in qualifying for the World Cup. They started the campaign as the team no seed wanted to face, the 10th-best side in Europe according to the world rankings, and the moment they got Spain, they looked like a team stuck in third gear waiting for the playoffs. A smaller European group denied them a chance to climb the rankings, appearing once again in a draw unseeded. They were the team no seeded team wanted to face, once again. Ukraine were the unlucky ones, we were told. Yet, in the first leg France were predictably poor. A team lacking leadership who lost the plot when down a goal. Ukraine no longer believed they were worth fearing and France looked like a team who knew what the rest of Europe didnt - they were not as good as people thought. "Someone who is a starter at Real Madrid, cant be as bad as that?" harshly asked French Football Federation president Noel Le Graet earlier in qualifying but, in truth, he was right. Many of the French players looked nothing like those who played for their clubs. "Bravery! More Bravery! screamed LEquipes headline last weekend. And so with the nation angry with their national team once again, Didier Deschamps team had one last chance to get them back. A packed house at the Stade de France certainly didnt reflect the mood of the nation, getting behind their team from the moment the national anthem sung. Five changes were made to the French team that lost in Ukraine and everyone of them made a difference. In Mathieu Valbuena, France had vision and desire to attack in the final third, to push Ukraine deep and force their defenders to give away unnecessary fouls. In the 22nd minute, the Marseille man sent in a brilliant free kick that Ribery got on the end of and his powerful shot rebounded out to Mamadou Sakho to score his first international goal. Sakho, like Benzema, was one of the five changes made by Deschamps, and the Real Madrid man made it 2-0 soon after when he took the ball, which bounced off Valbuena, and into his path, to slot home. Stade de France erupted and the linesman, crucially, kept his flag down despite the striker being way offside. It was difficult to feel sorry for Ukraine, however, as five minutes earlier Benzema had a legitimate goal ruled out for offside. In 34 minutes, France had gotten back on level terms. Except, it wasnt. The archaic away goals rule that UEFA continues to adopt in these qualifiers meant France were on edge throughout. Brave was indeed the word of the day as Yohan Cabaye, another one of the famous five, led a brilliant resolute French side at 2-0, popping up in key areas to make crucial interceptions and tackles. Ukraine, down to 10 men after the dismissal of Yevhen Khacheridi, knew one goal would be enough. At 2-0, France still had it all to do, yet it was at these nervous times when they looked their most mature. They looked like a side that felt they would score, but knew the importance of not conceding. The goal would come, they felt, and come it did. From a second phase of a corner, Mathieu Debuchys cross wasnt dealt with by Ukraines defence and when Riberys strike came across goal it was knocked into his own net by Oleg Gusev. Deschamps, the former skipper who lifted the World Cup in that very stadium fifteen years ago, once stood for everything that was great in French football. Now, he stood powerless. He would kick and head every ball from the sideline for the next 20 minutes until the final whistle put him and his country out of their misery. Deschamps was lifted into the air by his players and coaching staff and hundreds of Tricolour flags flew inside the stadium. France had found themselves and a performance many didnt know they had left in them. The French may be pessimistic, but they are just as passionate. Tonight, the world champions of pessimism can love their national team once again. Vapormax 3 Clearance . Less than 24 hours after the Wolves lost at home to the Mavericks, 100-98, NBA president of basketball operations Rod Thorn announced Tuesday that Kevin Love was fouled on his right arm by Shawn Marion in the closing seconds and should have been awarded two free throws. Vapormax Womens Clearance . For one, he still gets to crank the intensity to the max. "I push pretty angry. I ran pretty angry too though, but I have fun doing it," Lumsden said. http://www.clearancevapormax.com/cheap-v...-clearance.html. Phoenix got injured centre Emeka Okafor and a top-12-protected first-round draft pick in 2014 -- giving the rebuilding Suns potentially four choices in the opening round. The Suns also sent guards Kendall Marshall, Shannon Brown and Malcolm Lee to Washington so the deal will work financially. Vapormax Mens Clearance .Y. -- Kristen Gillman rallied to win the U. Fake Vapormax For Sale . -- Jim Furyk was 10 shots worse and right where he wanted to be Saturday in the BMW Championship.HOUSTON - James Harden and the Houston Rockets got a lift from two unlikely sources on Wednesday night.Harden scored 26 points on 10-for-31 shooting in Houstons 102-89 victory over the Sacramento Kings, and Donatas Motiejunas and Isaiah Canaan each stepped up for the Rockets.We kept breathing, our defence just kept grinding away and grinded out some stops, Houston coach Kevin McHale said.Harden also had eight assists and seven rebounds in Houstons third straight win, and Motiejunas and Canaan each set a career high for points.Canaan made six 3-pointers and scored 24 points, and Motiejunas had 21 points. Canaan was averaging 8.1 points coming into the night, and Motiejunas was averaging 6.6 points.The Rockets, who committed just four turnovers, scored 32 points off of Sacramentos 21 turnovers.You cant beat good teams and yourself in the same game, and we did that tonight, which is too bad, Kings coach Michael Malone said.DeMarcus Cousins had 29 points and 17 rebounds for the Kings (9-6), and Ben McLemore and Omri Casspi each scored 14.Houston played without centre Dwight Howard (knee) and point guard Patrick Beverley (hamstring), while Sacramento was without Rudy Gay (right Achilles injury) and Darren Collison (quad contusion).Sacramento had a scary moment late in the third quarter when Cousins went down, grabbing at a knee in apparent pain. The entire Kings bench, staff and players, walked onto the court toward the far corner where Cousins was located, but he slowly got up with a slight limp and remained in the game.To see him go down and grab his knee was very disconcerting, Malone said. Hes a load and we cant afford to lose him.The Rockets held Sacramento to just 39 points in the second half.Thats hard to do because Cousins is a handful, McHale said.Lacking its main inside presence in Howard, Houston went 12 for 35 from 3-point range. The Rockets reached double-diigits in made 3-pointers in all but three of their games this season, including four straight.ddddddddddddThe Rockets out together a strong start, leading 37-19 at the end of the first quarter. Harden had 12 points and five assists in the opening period.The Kings stepped up their defence in the second, allowing just 20 points and closing to 57-50 at the break.Sacramento went 22 for 28 at the free-throw line, while Houston was just 6 for 15. The Kings and Rockets began the night ranked first and fourth in free-throw attempts per game, respectively.The Rockets have won six of eight since a loss to Golden State ended a 6-0 run to open the season.___TIP-INSKings: Jason Thompson had 11 boards, and Sacramento outrebounded the undersized Rockets 48-41. The Kings entered the game ranked third in the league in rebounds per game.Rockets: Howard missed his fourth straight game with a sprained knee. Beverley has missed four games with the lingering hamstring injury. ... F Terrence Jones missed his 11th straight game with nerve damage in his left leg. McHale hinted before the game that all three starters would remain sidelined Friday.UP NEXTKings: Visit San Antonio on Friday.Rockets: Host the Clippers on Friday for the finale of a five-game homestand.CANAAN FROM 3Canaan went 6 for 10 from 3-point range and is 25 for 59 from long range on the season.Once you see a couple go down, you believe the next one is going to fall and if it does, the next one, you got to take that one, too, Canaan said.CASSPIS RETURNCasspi returned to Houston, where he played last season before being traded in July. Before the game, McHale spoke glowingly of Casspis brief tenure in Houston, and Casspis admiration was mutual.It was a life-changing experience from a basketball perspective to play for coach McHale, Casspi said. He taught me how to play the game the right way. I learned a lot. ' ' '