A French Football Federation official says striker Nicolas Anelka has been thrown off the nation's World Cup squad after reportedly insulting coach Raymond Domenech.

Federation vice president Noel Le Graet told France's RTL radio that the decision was made on Saturday.

Le Graet says "the decision has just been taken ... It's shocking, because if anyone has protected Anelka, it's Domenech."

French sports daily L'Equipe reported Anelka insulted Domenech at half time during France's 2-0 loss to Mexico on Thursday when the coach offered him some tactical advice.

L'Equipe said Domenech was upset after being insulted by Anelka, who was then replaced by Andre-Pierre Gignac.

French federation vice-president Christian Teinturier said earlier Saturday he thought Anelka should have either apologized or been sent home.

"If, effectively, the words I'm hearing are true, he shouldn't be there anymore," Teinturier told France Info radio. "If those exact words were said, I can't understand why he was at training Friday.

"He should have been thrown out straight away or apologized, otherwise he shouldn't turn up again wearing a France training top."

Later in the day, Anelka was.

France captain Patrice Evra was set to speak to reporters later Saturday, the team's media officer Francois Manardo said.

French sports minister Roselyne Bachelot says the "huge pressure" on the French players because of the team's poor results is not an excuse for poor behaviour.

"The players must keep in mind that they are wearing France's colours and are considered to be role models by many youngsters," Bachelot said in a statement. "This obliges them to show restraint and dignity."

Anelka was left off Domenech's squad for the 2006 World Cup, even when striker Djibril Cisse was injured prior to the team's departure to Germany. Domenech took Sidney Govou instead in 2006.

But the Chelsea striker was a starter in all the warmup matches before this World Cup, and he also started France's opening match, a 0-0 tie with Uruguay.

The latest reports of a rift follow newspaper allegations midfielder Yoann Gourcuff is an unpopular figure in the squad and defender William Gallas is upset with Domenech for giving the captain's armband to Evra.

Only a handful of French players spoke to the media after the Mexico defeat left the French staring at possible first-round elimination.

France needs to beat South Africa convincingly on Tuesday, and hope Mexico and Uruguay don't tie their final game, to have any chance of progressing.

"We deserve the criticism," France midfielder Jeremy Toulalan said Friday. "Despite what was said, I think there were a lot of supporters who had hope.

"We owe it to ourselves to fight for these people."

Gallas won't speak

Gallas is refusing to speak to reporters for the duration of the competition, while Franck Ribery, Anelka and Thierry Henry — all mainstays of the team — have also not spoken so far.

Toulalan, one of only a few players to speak to the media after the Mexico match, fears the squad is now a collection of individual talents with no teamwork whatsoever.

Toulalan is close friends with Gourcuff, but wouldn't be drawn into talk of any feuding within the squad.

Some reports say Gourcuff sometimes eats alone at dinner, and Ribery and Anelka do not like him and pressured Domenech to drop him against Mexico.

Gourcuff was replaced by Florent Malouda, and did not play any part in the match.

Anelka would not pass

In the opening game against Uruguay, Anelka had a clear chance to pass to the unmarked Gourcuff during the first half but chose not to, prompting an angry reaction from Gourcuff, who threw his arms up in the air.

Toulalan did say, however, players should always behave professionally, no matter what their differences.

"We can't all be the best friends in the world," Toulalan said.

Gourcuff said after the Mexico defeat he was being made a scapegoat for the team's inability to score goals.

"It has been a collective failure over the two games. Football is hard when you can't play together," Gourcuff said. "Perhaps I have paid the price, I don't know. I've not had any

lmao

This whole French team is a disassssssssssssster man ahahahahaahaha

death threats against the coach and players, motherfuckers don't even wanna play anymore, they're fighting during practice, dude had a knife in one of his bags ahahahahaha jesus christ what a shame, what a fucking embarrassment for a nation.

they boycotted practice today apparently. That team is in shambles.

I'll tell you whats happening.

This is all payback for the game they played against Ireland

now they're saying that they might not play the remaining games

they should just bring the Irish team back to play in their place and see what happens RTFLMFAOOOOO


I'll tell you Jimi, this is gonna be one of the most memorable cup tourneys

what the fuck did Anelka say? the guys on the score say they have it on there twitter but i dont use that shit.

He said that he didn't appreciate the fact that the coach was hogging all of the team cock for himself and not letting him have
any

Apparently it was something like "Fuck you, you son of a whore" something along those lines.

And while I dont agree with all the fuckery going on with France, this all starts with Domenech- hes the worst coach in this tournament. Anelka got pissed because he wouldnt change his tactics or formation. Playing Anelka as a lone striker is fucking ridiculous. Anelka hasn't been good in that role since his Arsenal days, so dude was right.