France Call-Ups for the June Euro Qualifiers

May 24th, 2007 | by: Laurie |

I’ve been put off writing this because… Well, honestly, it’s because my heart is completely shattered. No Patrice Evra on the list. What’s up with that?

Coach Raymond Domenech apparently prefers Julien Escudé, with his ability to switch-hit between left back and central defense. Okay, yes, I adore Escudé too, and he impressed the heck out of me when he played leftback against Austria. But Raymond? Patrice scored a Champions League goal playing RIGHT back. How’s THAT for switch hitting? (Of course, I could have scored against Roma that day, but let’s not cloud the issue.)

The big news of players not included: No Evra, no David Trézéguet, no Philippe Mexès. Trézéguet’s not a big surprise, alas, but no Mexès? What’s going on there? What did I miss? Mexès was the guy that Lilian Thuram all but annointed as his successor on the NT. I thought he did fine when he played first half against Austria, but then he was subbed out, and now he’s not called up. Granted, central defense is the position I generally don’t notice unless they do something either dramatically great or dramatically awful, but still… Did he have the wrong astrological sign or something? Did Raymond think his lovely blond highlights didn’t look natural? Or maybe he joined the ranks of players who hit on Estelle Denis? Can somebody clue me in here?

There are three goalkeepers called up this time, with Fiorentina’s Sébastien Frey returning from international exile to join Coupet and Landreau.

It looks like Francois Clerc will get the nod to replace the injured Willy Sagnol at rightback as expected. His backup will be Bakary Sagna of Auxerre. (This is totally irrelevant, but does anybody know the background of M. Sagna? When I googled him I came up with three different spellings for his name — Bakary, Bacari, Bacary — which often means that the original language has a phonemic basis, like Arabic. Not that it matters, I’m just always linguistically curious.)

No big surprise in the midfield except for the return of Lyon’s Alou Diarra. Last I heard, wasn’t Alou playing for the Lyon RESERVES? Domenech apparently likes him a whole lot more than Lyon’s Gerard Houllier does. And Abou Diaby and Lassana Diarra got the return nod, but Bordeaux’s Rio Antonia Mavuba didn’t. (I agree with the choice. Mavuba looked a little shaky to me in the last go-round. But good luck next time, Rio.)

And Samir Nasri and my personal favorite young gun Karim Benzema may get the chance to reprise their winning roles from the Austria game. That could be fun.

Nicolas Anelka and Djibril Cissé are again called up. No surprise there, and I expect them to start, with Benzema getting subbed in at some point during at least one of the games. Sidney Govou is also called up, listed as an attaquant, which does surprise me a little. He just hasn’t impressed me the last few times I’ve seen him play.

And our last new player is twenty-one-year-old striker Jimmy Briand of Stade Rennais, a player about whom I know very little. I’ll see if I can’t do some research and come up with a profile and photo before the games.

Complete team list after the jump.

Liste des joueurs sélectionnés

Gardiens de But
23 Grégory COUPET Olympique Lyonnais
16 Sébastien FREY A.C.F. Fiorentina
1 Mickaël LANDREAU Paris SG

Défenseurs
3 Eric ABIDAL Olympique Lyonnais
13 François CLERC Olympique Lyonnais
21 Julien ESCUDE F.C. Seville
5 William GALLAS Arsenal F.C.
12 Bakary SAGNA AJ Auxerrenouveau
17 Sébastien SQUILLACI Olympique Lyonnais
15 Lilian THURAM F.C. Barcelone

Milieux de Terrain
2 Abou DIABY Arsenal F.C.
18 Alou DIARRA Olympique Lyonnais
4 Lassana DIARRA Chelsea F.C.
6 Claude MAKELELE Chelsea F.C.
7 Florent MALOUDA Olympique Lyonnais
11 Samir NASRI Olympique de Marseille
22 Franck RIBERY Olympique de Marseille
8 Jérémy TOULALAN Olympique Lyonnais

Attaquants
39 Nicolas ANELKA Bolton Wanderers
20 Karim BENZEMA Olympique Lyonnais
14 Jimmy BRIAND Stade Rennais nouveau
9 Djibril CISSE Olympique de Marseille
10 Sidney GOVOU Olympique Lyonnais

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http://lyon.theoffside.com Inara

You know, I think Domenech does have a soft spot for Alou. I remember he made him a starter for the Greece match, despite the fact that he had barely played at that point. Domenech also has a soft spot for Govou, because he clearly sees something the rest of us don’t (and so does Houllier, oddly enough. Maybe we’re missing something?).

I personally wasn’t thrilled to see Sagna. He’s not bad, probably one of Auxerre’s best players, but there are better French RBs than him. Chimbonda for one, though I don’t know how he’s doing at the moment. My theory is that Domenech wanted to pick at least one guy from Auxerre since the match will be there. And since there is no room for Pedretti in midfield or Kaboul in CB, he went with Sagna.

But speaking honestly, I think Reveillere (who’s been capped before) is far better and more experience. Frankly, I think he’s better than Clerc sometimes. But I guess Domenech can’t pick two guys from the same team for the same position.

Also, Briand is great. He’s terrific for the U21s, and I’d happily trade Baros to Rennes for Briand.

BTW, have you noticed that the French NT’s average age has dropped by nearly a decade since the WC?
sandrahn

Agreed completely about Evra’s absence, Laurie. And I really don’t get this attachment with Diarra. I just don’t rate him.
Terry

I feel the youth is looking good, guys like Ribery,Nasri,BenZema (I think that how you spell it) is what FRANCE NEEDED can you imagime with Henry and Anelka, my god that fire power, I really beleive with their full squad available and the new talent they are going to be really though to beat
supersebgrimaldi

Salut, this is my first post here, as school’s been tough, but I think you all are doing a terrific job. Anyway, I, too, am none too happy about the non-selection of Trez/Mexès/Evra. Perhaps le Raymond has something against guys who got further in the CL than OL did? (not in Trez’s case, obviously)

Though I do see the “apparent” logic in selecting Bacary (I think it is) Sagna. Such as was the case with L.Diarra/Nasri/Benzema/Diaby, he has a dual nationality, and would have been eligible, I believe, to play for Senegal. Considering that Sagnol is no young pup, and that there isn’t an apparent successor at right back (well, Clerc, perhaps, though I’m certainly not very convinced), Domenech may be trying to ascertain that he’ll have Bacary if he’s needed.

Though I agree with Inara. I would prefer Chimbonda over Sagna. And I also don’t get why Govou is omnipresent on the squad lists. His wearing the #10 jersey against Lithuania made me miss Zidane more than I already do.

And finally, why were both Toulalan and A.Diarra selected when Houllier already picked one over the other at OL? Ah, too many questions, as always.

Though it appears that Shevchenko is out for the Ukraine match.

For those in the States, happy Memorial Day weekend. Great job again on the blog.