Google is so strange. I got the following in my e-mail yesterday from the Sydney Herald, via Google Alerts:
Defender Lilian Thuram has announced his retirement from international soccer…”
Wow, I thought. That was unexpected. I thought for sure he’d make it through Euro ‘08. Then I finished the sentence. And [...]

Longtime followers of this blog are familiar with my uneasy fascination with France World Cup substitute Vikash Dhorasoo. The man activates my maternal area on a regular basis by going through life with those big, dark puppy dog eyes and one finger permanently on the self-destruct button. Not to mention a bit more [...]

I’ve been writing this blog for a year as of today. It’s been great fun and a great team. Here’s to wonderful things to write about in Euro ‘08 and beyond.
And this is not really relevant, but I was tickled pink just now to discover that the player profile I wrote on [...]

And finally some good news for France. Samir Nasri will be returning to play for Marseille this weekend vs. Sochaux. I was starting to get a bit worried because, again, we’re dealing with an illness that can affect the brain (”meningitis-like virus”) and he was supposed to be back last weekend. [...]

With about 3 1/2 weeks to go before that all-important game with Ukraine, I don’t like seeing injuries reported for our players. Unfortunately it looks like there are a few.
First, Jérémy Toulalan missed Lyon’s Champions League game with Stuttgart today with a knee injury. He’s expected to be our two weeks, so let’s [...]

How did it slip my notice that France was playing Morocco on November 16? Oops.
The fff recently announced some friendlies for 2008, so I figured this would be a good time to bring you up to date on upcoming fixtures.
Friday 16 november 2007
Friendly at the Stade de France
France-Morocco (21h00) [...]

Here’s the video of both of Thierry Henry’s goals from Wednesday’s France-Lithuania game. Two things stand out for me:
First, the service from both Hatem Ben Arfa (first goal) and Jérémy Toulalan (second goal) was lovely. And second, I’m pretty sure that on the second goal, Toulalan was passing for Karim Benzema, who was [...]

As we’re all absorbing the lessons of the past two games, I thought I’d give you a little blast from the past.
Remember Bixente Lizarazu, the little Basque wonder? (His Wikepedia page lists him at 5′6 1/2″. Because you don’t want to forget that ultra-important half an inch.) Haven’t you been [...]

Whew. Three points.
For most of the game I was thinking it would be Scotland all over again — domination of possession, inability to score, and bad luck on the counterattack. Fortunately luck and Thierry Henry had other ideas. He put it away not once but twice to finish things off. [...]

William Gallas apparently struggled a bit in training and left practice early yesterday. Not a good sign.
And l’Equipe seems to be questioning whether Karim Benzema will be starting against Lithuania, possibly due to the fact that he and Henry didn’t play on the same scrimmage squad in practice. And I’ve seen several articles [...]