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France Starters List? Not So Fast

March 22nd, 2007 | By: Laurie | 12 Comments »

Coach Raymond Domenech apparently has his list of starters “in his head.” But he’s not willing to share. So we get to speculate on our own for the moment.

If anyone else finds entertainment in trying to determine who our starters will be, I have a fun l’Equipe.fr article filled with just this type of speculation. Unfortunately l’Equipe.fr is, y’know, in French. But if you don’t speak French, I can give you a fun Google “translation.”

Original article in French

Google article in semi-English

I think there’s some kind of zen thing involved in figuring out Google translations. I may have said this before, but it’s kind of like those Magic Eye pictures — it helps you to “see” it if you unfocus your brain a bit.

(Actually, I’ve been tempted to grab a glass of wine to see if that helps. Feel free to try this at home and let me know the results.)

But anyhow. L’Equipe’s is thinking 4-4-2. And their starting eleven? Coupet - Sagnol, Thuram, Gallas, Abidal - Makelele, Mavuba (or Toulalan) - Wiltord (or Govou), Malouda - D. Cissé (or Govou), Anelka (or Govou).

Me? I’m thinking Toulalan over Mavuba, Wiltord at midfield and Anelka and Govou up front. But it could be Anelka and Cissé. (And I hope it’s not Govou and Cissé. How could he NOT start Anelka?) I don’t think Lassana Diarra or Abou Diaby will play this game, but I wouldn’t be all that surprised to see Nasri, Benzema or Piquionne, especially if whatever Domenech tries the first half doesn’t seem to be working.

Oh, one last thing. Does anybody know why Domenech picks 9 or 10 players from Lyon but never goes with Lyon’s 4-3-3? I would seem so logical. (Maybe that’s why he doesn’t do it.)

Tags: Anelka, Benzema, Cisse, France, Govou, Mavuba, Piquionne, Toulalan, Wiltord

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Comments

By Patrick | March 22nd, 2007 at 9:24 pm

FYI - Soccernet gives this list:
Gregory Coupet; Willy Sagnol, Lilian Thuram, William Gallas, Eric Abidal; Sylvain Wiltord, Claude Makelele, Jeremy Toulalan, Florent Malouda; Nicolas Anelka, Karim Benzema.

I prefer Govou over Wiltord though.

Posted from United States

By Laurie | March 22nd, 2007 at 10:48 pm

Patrick, yes, I saw that one after I posted! I’d personally be thrilled to see Benzema starting. Terrified, but thrilled. Because this one counts. Govou and Cisse both have drawbacks based on how they’ve played lately, and Benzema’s kind of a clean slate. Until he screws up. (He is so dang young! But Zizou used to be too, right?)

I go back and forth between Toulalan and Mavuba. I haven’t seen Mavuba play enough recently to make a judgment. We’ll assume Domenech has. (?)

Posted from United States

By Rach | March 23rd, 2007 at 6:11 am

I saw this article about Nasri. Don’t you just love Willy Sagnol?

http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Soccer/2007/03/21/3798664-ap.html

Posted from Australia

By Jersey_bleus | March 23rd, 2007 at 8:25 am

Do not be scared about Benzema! He played fantastically well last week against Nancy in the game I saw, great speed, dribbling awareness and pitch awareness for that matter. He was doing some very absurd things with crosses in warmups, i.e. no look bounce shots to top corners

Posted from United States

By Laurie | March 23rd, 2007 at 10:24 am

Jersey, that’s good to hear. I ADORE Benzema. Every interview I see he seems so level-headed.

Posted from United States

By Laurie | March 23rd, 2007 at 10:26 am

Oh, and Jersey? How did Wiltord and Govou and Toulalan play? They’re my three mental question marks.

(And note that I haven’t mentioned my passionate, raging jealousy over your seeing Lyon live even once. I am In Control.)

Posted from United States

By Brandon | March 23rd, 2007 at 10:28 am

I think that article proves what a great guy and a leader on the team Sagnol is and hopefully will continue to be for a long time to come!

I think the starting 11 soccernet gives would be exciting. Myself, I would start Wiltord, let him prove he still has it, and if need be, sub in Govou for him around the 60th if its not working.

en tout cas, Vive la France!
Bonne chance demain les bleus!

Posted from Canada

By L'Américain | March 23rd, 2007 at 12:22 pm

Sadly, Toulalan was not listed in the team that night, and Wiltord came on with very little time left. Govou played ‘OK’ at best, he made a lot of shoddy passes. Benzema defintely shined, I posted a match review on my site, and I got lucky and caught the third goal on my sister’s camera. Video on the page.

http://www.lequipemoustache.blogspot.com

Posted from United States

By MB | March 23rd, 2007 at 4:32 pm

Who will be captain?

Posted from United States

By sandrahn | March 23rd, 2007 at 4:42 pm

ALLEZ LES BLEUS!!!!! Here’s to a fantastic win!!

Posted from United States

By Laurie | March 23rd, 2007 at 5:00 pm

MB, everything I’ve seen indicates it will be Thuram, but I don’t think it’s official yet.

Posted from United States

By Patrick | March 23rd, 2007 at 5:59 pm