At Last, Some Good News on the France Injury/Illness Front

October 25th, 2007 | by: Laurie |

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. Instead he missed not just the Lens game but also yesterday’s Champions League draw with Porto. (A very interesting game for those who missed it. I don’t know why these guys can’t win domestically. They’re a fun team to watch in CL.)

Also, it looks like Jérémy Toulalan is targeting the Nov. 7 Champions League match with Stuttgart for his return from recent knee injury. According to my admittedly rusty math skills, 7 comes before 16, so this is before the France games.

I haven’t seen any news at all on Willy Sagnol since he started training again with Bayern Munich a couple of weeks ago. Again, at the time they were saying he’d be playing in 2-4 weeks. Apparently we’re looking at closer to four, because nothing’s showing up in either English or French news. I’ll keep an eye out and let you know when I hear something.

I’ll also check with Inara to see when Grégory Coupet is coming back, but I don’t think it will be before the November games. Too bad. I don’t dislike Mickaël Landreau, it would be good to have a veteran betwen the posts.

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[...] World Cup Blog – France has an interesting analysis regarding the injuries around France national team. Some of the key players which could be called to the national are recovering from injuries. [...]
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[...] Huckleberry Dumbell, Chief Skeptic: [...]
http://lyon.theoffside.com Inara

As far as I know, Coupet targeted Lyon’s game in Glasgow as a return date, but that depends on how his therapy is progressing and if Perrin will feel confident in playing him right away after such a long layoff. So Coupet will miss the Ukraine game for sure, but he should take part in the friendlies in 2008, which will get him ready for Euro 2008 – because we WILL qualify, dammit.
http://lequipemoustache.blogspot.com L’Américain

Bad news for viera: http://sports.yahoo.com/sow/photo?slug=afp-071025184135.zon3as05&prov=afp
sandrahn

“because we WILL qualify, dammit”

Damn straight, Inara! Without France, the whole tournament wouldn’t be worth watching anyway!

And I mean that.

BTW, I just re-watched the game v. Lithuania (I tape these things, I know, I’m crazy). I loved Thuram’s passion right from the starting line-up just before the game’s start, and his somersault when Henry scored his 2nd goal. Throughout the game, there were some terrific glimpses of the players’ emotional bonding and passion, and total commitment to getting a good result. I just love watching these players, such a fantastic squad.
Doumé

Don’t feel bad, Sandra, I re-watched France-Spain 2006 2 weeks ago!

As Thierry Henry says, it’ll feel funny to root for the Italians!
http://lyon.theoffside.com Inara

Laurie, I agree on Thuram. He also chewed out Ben Arfa for that huge miss against Lithuania.

BTW, what do you think about Vieira being captain? I don’t know how convinced I am, and with all the injuries he seems to pick up, he’s hardly ever there. And when he is on the pitch, I don’t see much leadership.
http://lyon.theoffside.com Inara

Whoops, I meant the Ben Arfa comment to Sandra.