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In many ways, the line neatly sums up how France treats its sport, particularly soccer. The men's soccer team has a long history of blowups and controversies, the nadir reached at the 2010 World Cup when they humiliated themselves and the wider French public by going on strike after moody attacker Nicolas Anelka was ordered to leave the camp for clashing with then-manager Raymond Domenech. In many ways, Dumas' classic tale is so very non-French.