L'équipe has the probable first 11 for France's opening world cup qualifier on Saturday :
Mandanda
Sagna, Mexès, Gallas, Evra
Govou, L. Diarra, Toulalan, Nasri
Benzema, Henry
In North America, Setanta will be showing both of France's upcoming world cup qualifiers on same-day tape delay:
Setanta broadcast at 4:00 p.m. Eastern on Saturday, Sept. 6, 2008
World Cup Qualifier - Austria v France
Setanta broadcast at 6:45 p.m. Eastern on Wednesday, Sept. 10, 2008
World Cup Qualifier - France v Serbia
The list of supporters for Lassana Diarra has been shrinking at a quick rate. The last time I checked, it was down to me, Domemench, and Andy Gray. A lot of France supporters would like to see Flamini and Toulalan together.
6 points to the start the campaign would be a welcome relief after this summer's Euro 2008 1-goal horror show.
Here's the full squad:
Goalkeeprs
Hugo Lloris, 21, Lyon
Steve Mandanda, 23, Marseille
Defenders
Eric Abidal, 29, Barcelona
Gaël Clichy, 23, Arsenal
Patrice Evra, 27, Manchester United
Rod Fanni, 26, Rennes
William Gallas, 31, Arsenal
Philippe Mexès, 26, Roma
Bacary Sagna, 25, Arsenal
Sébastien Squillaci, 28, Sevilla
Midfielders
Alou Diarra, 27, Bordeaux
Lassana Diarra, 23, Portsmouth
Mathieu Flamini, 24, AC Milan
Yoann Gourcuff, 22, Bordeaux
Florent Malouda, 28, Chelsea
Samir Nasri, 21, Arsenal
Jérémy Toulalan, 24, Lyon
Strikers
Nicolas Anelka, 29, Chelsea
Karim Benzema, 20, Lyon
Jimmy Briand, 23, Rennes
Sidney Govou, 29, Lyon
Thierry Henry, 31, Barcelona
51 minutes ago
Posts
6 deflections:
I would go for Flamini over Diarra any day...I think Diarra has an attitude problem.
My blog was offline for a couple of days because, I had infringed on some copyright:( I copied the fixture list and put it in the blog...so had to sort that off to get it up and running again.
Now its back to normal service:) I hate international breaks:(
Reports in the French press suggest that the FFF expects Ray to get a minimum 5 pts. from the first three games, or he's done.
Apparently there's some official reassessment scheduled for after the third game, which is away to Romania, and against whom France looked so uninspired last summer.
The rumour is Alain Boghossian is set to replace him.
Boghossian had a reputation for being so amiable, that even when his skills were below international level, he would still get called up for the national team because he was supposedly good for morale.
Having the best players in the squad is usually the best thing for my morale, but Boghossian might work as a manager.
I don't want to contemplate the thought of more France under-performance, though, so after these next 3 games, I'm hoping France are on 9 points, with a +10 goal difference, and Domenech has finally found his midas touch.
I'm wicked psyched to see Benzema playing for Les Bleus. He's one to watch.
Like I said, Freekicker, you seem to be in the vast majority on L. Diarra.
When did you give up on international football?
About the France goalkeepers:
Mandanda, the Marseille keeper, broke into France team right before the World Cup, and has suddenly become the number 1. I'm curious to see how he does, as I think a lot of France supporters are. His reputation is pretty much a clean slate at this point.
Hugo Lloris is the new number 1 at Lyon, and the French I've talked to seem to think he's solid.
Coupet, having been replaced by Lloris at Lyon, has apparently lost his spot to him for France. Coupet let in a lot of goals at Euro 2008.
Seb Frey is a renowned keeper at club level, playing in Italy. He has had very few chances to play for France, and didn't take his chances very well. He bizarrely announced his international retirement recently, although between the lines he may have been saying that he hopes Domenech gets sacked so a new manager will come in and install him as the number 1. A lot France supporters seem to think Frey should be the number 1.
Landreau is PSG's number 1, but he had that howler against Scotland when McFadden scored, and is out of favor.
It's strange to only have two goalkeepers in the squad.
Who's the best keeper among these five? I'm not sure. Coupet has had a great career and used to be fairly error free. Landreau is sometimes a fantastic shot stopper. From the little I've seen of Frey, I wasn't impressed, but I'm evidently in a small minority (where I again find myself with Domenech), and I haven't seen enough of the new boys, Mandanda and Lloris to say.
Ouch.
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