Can someone please explain to me what the crap is going on with the French?

I have no idea who this man is.

So, apparently the French soccer team at the World Cup has imploded in a most spectacular fashion. I'm not going to pretend this doesn't please me a little, but I simply don't understand what's going on. I looked up various media reports and I have worked out that one guy got kicked off the team, one guy called some other guy a traitor (not sure if either of those guys are the one that got kicked off), someone (perhaps a coach?) has resigned, someone threw his stopwatch into the bushes, someone wrote a revolutionary manifesto, and someone on the team just flat-out called some other people on the team "stupid". I'm pretty sure the team is refusing to train, and I'm certain that various corporate sponsors have pulled out. So, you can see how this all adds up to madness on an international scale. These are grown men behaving this way. Hideous. Humiliating.

Delightful.

But also? Confusing. What's so confusing is that all the media reports are written as though I'm supposed to understand who all these people are and why they're hurling stopwatches and writing manifestoes. French names are being thrown around like beer bottles at a Philly Eagles game and I have no idea who anyone is. Except Nicolas Sarkozy. I know who he is, but I don't know why he's involved.

Can anyone explain this in a rational, understandable manner?