It's their RECENT record that hasn't been particularly good.
“...French have by far the best record in terms of wins, draws and losses...”
We joke about the Frenchies a lot... I think they’re sad WWII non-performance and Vietnam debacle just flayed their reputation.
And I really do believe World War I just bled them so badly - just wasted a few generations of their sons - that they are still recovering from it.
After I read Horne’s book “The Price of Glory” my opinion of them changed. They were maniacs defending Verdun and took horrible losses in manhood that would castrate any nation.
There was a bronze plaque at one of the Verdun sites, Fort Vaux, I believe; it was put there after the war, by a mother of one of the slain French soldiers who died there. It says “Since your eyes have been closed, mine have not ceased weeping.”
You could say that was an epitaph for that whole generation of young men who never came home.
Very sad...