Cantona bares his teeth at Domenech and Henry

Former France international and Manchester United legend Eric Cantona launched his singular type of blast at both Raymond Domenech and Thierry Henry after his national team reached the World Cup at the expense of Ireland, and, in the case of Henry, by foul means rather than fair.

• Domenech: Henry's no cheat
• Paper Round: Replay not the answer
• Palmer: Deep gloom engulfs Ireland
• FAI request France replay
• Keane blasts FIFA and UEFA
• Henry admits handball

"I think that Raymond Domenech is the worst coach in French football since Louis XVI," Cantona told reporters at a press conference ahead of a beach soccer tournament due to take place in his hometown of Marseille. French king Louis XVI was the monarch executed by French revolutionaries in 1793 after the revolution of 1789. He is commonly depicted as an indecisive, dithering monarch.

"If it was up to me, I'd put (Bordeaux coach) Laurent Blanc in charge of the France team," the former Manchester United hero continued. "He continues the season with Bordeaux, he wins the league with Bordeaux and he wins the World Cup! I'm not the only one who thinks that..."

Cantona, nowadays an actor of some acclaim and coach of France's beach soccer team, also criticised the attitude of Thierry Henry, whose handball set up France's winning goal in their 2-1 aggregate play-off victory over the Republic of Ireland.

"What shocked me most wasn't the handball, honestly," said Cantona. "What shocked me most was that at the end of the match, in front of the television cameras, this player (Henry) went and sat down next to an Irish player to console him, even though he'd screwed them three minutes earlier.

"If I'd been Irish, he wouldn't have lasted three seconds."