France Striker Issues (And a Happy Belated Birthday to Nicolas Anelka!)

March 18th, 2007 | by: Laurie | View Comments

I was out of town this week and somehow missed the birthday of my favorite bad boy, Nicolas Anelka. Our Nico turned 28 on Wednesday the 14th.

I’m hoping that Domenech will give him the birthday present of starting both upcoming games. (Honestly, I don’t see how he couldn’t. Anelka is one of our few players who’s fit and actually scoring lately.) I’m guessing he’ll start in the Euro qualifier on the 24th against Lithuania with Djibril Cissé, and in the friendly on the 28th with newcomer Frédéric Piquionne. What do you think?

Cissé actually worries me a little. I caught about fifteen or twenty minutes of the Marseille-Lens game a few weeks back and it wasn’t pretty. From the little bit I saw he looked kind of lost and disconnected from the rest of the team. (Honestly, I didn’t even realize it was Cissé for the longest time. I don’t think I’d ever seen him with black hair before.) I’m not sure if this is standard for recent play, but it didn’t give me a lot of confidence.

I’d personally love to see Karim Benzema play, but I’m not seeing him as a starter. But I’d be surprised not to see him subbed in during the Austria friendly.

So tell me: Who do you think will start up front in these games?