Sagnol is “Still Hopeful” about Euros. (Does This Break Your Heart or What?)

First, I want to welcome Inara to the France page. A lot of you probably know Inara as the writer of the wonderful Lyon page over at The Offside. She’s going to be joining Jeff and me in covering the France team as we head into Euros.

Only a month and a half to go, and we’re hoping for lots of news, gossip and shirtless photos.

(Well, that last is probably just Inara and me. I’m guessing Jeff just sighs and averts his eyes and works on actual France team news.)

Latest news on the rightback situation comes from Goal.com, which reports that Willy Sagnol is

still keeping his fingers crossed that he will make into Raymond Domenech’s squad for the European Championships this summer.

Ouch. That breaks my heart. I adore Willy Sagnol. He stabilizes the entire right side of the field when he’s there. He’s the only rightback we have (in my opinion) who can consistently deliver the ball into the box. When I picture Sagnol in my mind, he’s just charged up the right, made an overlapping run, and has his eyes fixed on the person in front of the net that he’s going to deliver the ball to. Has anybody else thought that we might not have struggled so desperately to score if he’d been on the field in the final few months of Euro qualifying?

In the last year, since he’s been injured, we’ve seen several adequate-to-good performances at rightback, but no great ones. At least in my memory. And there have been several times when we’ve either not scored at all or not scored enough, when I’ve thought, “Sagnol crossing the ball into the box could have made a difference here.”

Sagnol was a fixture in the French back four prior to his injury, but Lyon full back Francois Clerc has filled in with aplomb in his absence and could be rewarded with the role this summer in Austria/ Switzerland.

“I thought I could miss the Euros” Sagnol told L’Equipe. “I have not started a single game between the start of April 2007 and February 2008.

“I have been working twice as hard in training since November. I hope it will pay off regarding the end of the season” he added.

However it remains unclear whether French coach Domenech will take a gamble on Sagnol. Apart from Clerc, Arsenal’s Bakary Sagna has also impressed this season and could get the nod ahead of Sagnol.

I cannot imagine Raymond Domenech leaving Sagnol off the squad. I just can’t. I don’t even consider Sagnol one of the “old guys” who could potentially drag the team down, despite the fact that he turned thirty-one last month. In my mind, Willy stays ageless.

What do you think? Am I voting with my emotions and not my head? Do Clerc or Sagna (or even Lassana Diarra) deserve a spot ahead of him? Who should Domenech start at rightback?