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The list for France-Uruguay

November 13th, 2008 | By: Laurie | 18 Comments »

First off, my pet peeve. Why the hell is Patrick Vieira on the list? You know he’s just going to get injured before the game, and even if he doesn’t, he’ll be injured in 2010. So why are we not seeing somebody like Mathieu Flamini, or (maybe Abou Diaby) instead? (Sorry, Vieira fans, but you know what I’m saying.)

In the same vein… Mikaël Silvestre? I guess the move from Manchester United to Arsenal flipped the switch for Raymond? How else would you explain this when there are young talents who deserve and need a tryout in a meaningless friendly? I don’t get this one at all. (I asked Daryl, our main editor and EPL expert, why he thought Silvestre had been called up and he said, “He got a nice own-goal against Fenerbahce.” That must be it.) Silvestre is apparetly replacing the injured Eric Abidal.

Now that I’ve got that off my chest, some interesting points about the new list for the Uruguay friendly. No Florent Malouda despite his solid form at Chelsea this year. Also no Hatem ben Arfa even though he’s been an ace at Marseille. A moody ace, yes, but he gets the job done.

And back to returning prodigals, am I the only one happy to see Julien Escude back in action? He’s always felt fairly…stable to me — something that’s been missing in the backline in the last year or so. I felt bad that he was too injured for Euros, and am glad to see that his international career may not be completely over. Assuming he’s in form? Any Sevilla fans want to fill us in?

We’re also back to three goalkeepers, with the third being Yohann Pele from Le Mans. Who probably still will not be seeing his first cap.

As far as newcomers, we have Steve Savidan from Caen. Interesting choice. For
me he’s one of a number of players I’ve watched recently and thought, “Wonder why he never got called up?” He has now. But I wonder why Savidan, an attaquant, when our strike force is already pretty strong, and Savidan is not exactly young? (He’s 30.) Sure, his form is good this year, but…I don’t get it. Aren’t we supposed to be using friendlies to build for the future?

One other thing I don’t get. Isn’t Savidan pretty much a straight striker? As are Anelka, Henry, Benzema and Briand, right? (I’m pretty sure they can all play on the wings, but I know that at least Benzema, Anelka and Henry prefer to be front and center.) If we’re playing Gourcuff as a playmaker, we’re probably not going to be using two strikers. So why not call up more natural wingers, like maybe Malouda and Ben Arfa? I don’t get it.

I guess we’ll have to wait and see if Raymond knows what he’s doing.

Liste des joueurs sélectionnés

Gardiens de But
Hugo LLORIS Olympique Lyonnais
Stève MANDANDA Olympique de Marseille
Yohann PELE Le Mans UC 72

Défenseurs
Gaël CLICHY Arsenal F.C.
Julien ESCUDE FC Seville
Patrice EVRA Manchester United
Rod FANNI Stade Rennais F.C.
William GALLAS Arsenal F.C.
Philippe MEXES AS Rome
Bakary SAGNA Arsenal F.C.
Mikaël SILVESTRE Arsenal F.C.

Milieux de Terrain

Alou DIARRA Girondins de Bordeaux
Lassana DIARRA Portsmouth
Yoann GOURCUFF Girondins de Bordeaux
Samir NASRI Arsenal F.C.
Jérémy TOULALAN Olympique Lyonnais
Patrick VIEIRA Inter de Milan

Attaquants
Nicolas ANELKA Chelsea F.C.
Karim BENZEMA Olympique Lyonnais
Jimmy BRIAND Stade Rennais
Thierry HENRY FC Barcelone
Franck RIBERY Bayern Munich
Steve SAVIDAN SM Caen nouveau

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Comments

By j | November 13th, 2008 at 1:45 pm

I have no idea how Raymond Domenech makes his choices and it is highly suspect. This isn’t a squad for the future even slightly and he must feel very secure of his position to make these selections.

Posted from Germany

By Kyle | November 13th, 2008 at 3:59 pm

As long as there is no more boumsong, I am pleased. Someone please stop him from playing football.

Posted from France

By Laurie | November 13th, 2008 at 4:18 pm

Kyle! Long time no see! Are you teaching English in France now? Where at?

Posted from United States

By Martha | November 13th, 2008 at 4:42 pm

Trust me, Vieira fans would be VERY HAPPY to see him left out — every time he goes to France camp, you break him, and Inter need them a healthy Paddy.

Posted from United States

By Michel-Olivier | November 13th, 2008 at 4:53 pm

“They are players who have never been in the squad before, who we don’t know. We’ll see. It’s time to see some players who maybe we’ve not yet seen in the France team but who for weeks, or months, or several years have been showing what they can do and who haven’t been called up.”(Raymond Domenech)

no hoarau, dernis, mathieu, matuidi, squillaci, remy……

By sandrahn | November 13th, 2008 at 4:55 pm

Laurie, intersting stat someone told me: when Gallas and Silvestre played together in the national team, France never lost. I don’t know if that’s true. But so far at Arsenal, when the two have played together they’ve been solid. I know both are prone to mistakes (I remeber some howlers by Silvestre when he played at LB for Man Utd) but they could be a decent pair for France. I’m certainly willing to see Silvestre as an alternative for Abidal or Boumsong at the moment. I agree, tho, that Domenech has got to stop relying on these older players.

I saw the latest Inter game and was glad to see Vieira playing so well. As a longtime gooner and Vieira fan, it was great to see him regain some form.

BTW, when is the game being played and where?

Posted from United States

By Laurie | November 13th, 2008 at 5:04 pm

It’s in Paris on the 19th. I’m assuming Stade de France. Anybody want to verify? And I’ve read that all seats are very, very cheap. Too bad the airfare to Europe isn’t.

Posted from United States

By Jean-Michel | November 13th, 2008 at 7:52 pm

Mandada (I guess)

Sagna Escude Gallas Clichy

Viera (I guess)

Ribery Gourcuff Nasri

Anelka Henry

Posted from United States

By Marwen | November 13th, 2008 at 9:21 pm

Looks like a good list
Here is who I would play
Lloris
Sagna Gallas Mexes(or Escude) Evra(or silvestre or Clichy) all are good
Viera Toulalan
Ribery Gourcuff( or Nasri)
Anelka Benzema

Henry hasn’t really been playing well so i didn’t include him.

By Eric Escander | November 14th, 2008 at 2:55 am

Poor Flamini, what a waste of talent for France. Vieira is too old time to move on and give the youngsters a chance. No way will Vieira make it to 2010. What is the point of letting him play? I see two maybe three new faces which is not what I was expecting. It isn’t a horrible list but its not what we need. We have to think about the future of French football. We need to construct the best team possible and many of these guys are clearly not the future. I know that we have to concentrate on beating Uruguay but we also cannot lose sight of the future, of the upcomming world cup. Well I hope we win and I hope more new faces as well as talented faces start to pop up on these lists.

Posted from United States

By Kyle | November 14th, 2008 at 7:26 am

Laurie,

I am currently in Aurillac until after Bastille Day. I’m in primary schools, so I’m dealing with 7-11 yr olds. Just been trying to go out and meet as many people as possible, and turns out I met a journalist who decided me and my friend necessitated an entire spread in the local newspaper…

http://www.lamontagne.fr/editions_locales/cantal/deux_americains_en_terres_cantaliennes@CARGNjFdJSsEEh8HBx4-.html

For the Stade game all the billets at 10 euros, and since it’s on a tuesday and there are no primary classes on wednesday, I might just make the trek to see the boys play.

Posted from France

By Jean Pierre | November 14th, 2008 at 3:02 pm

The tickets are Damn F*king cheap, 10 euro per seat even the seats in the first class. but of course they are sold out.

i wonder what the attacking midfield will be because we got nasri gourcuff and ribery

Posted from Netherlands

By Benj | November 14th, 2008 at 5:06 pm

The Silvestre call up is Domenech’s idea of a quick fix for our pathetic defense: an all Arsenal back line of Sagna-Gallas-Silvestre-Clichy! If Kolo Toure was French, he would be in the team as well…

Posted from United States

By Laurie | November 14th, 2008 at 5:08 pm

Hmmm. Not a bad thought, Benj. It kind of worked when the whole team was at Lyon.

Posted from United States

By Doumé | November 16th, 2008 at 12:13 pm

Kyle,
Great article. I’m glad you’re liking it there! It’s rugby country, no?

By Benjamin | November 17th, 2008 at 7:58 pm

Sagna is injured…something he picked up in the last arsenal game apparently.
so im banking on lloris starting bc mandanda has been shit lately.
i would like to see mexes, clichy, fanni, and gallas play. might as well experiment its a friendly.
and then im hoping viera gets injured so the rest looks like this:
——–Toulalan——–
Ribery—Gourcuff—Nasri
—Anelka—-Benzema–

is it tomorrow or wednesday?

By Kyle | November 18th, 2008 at 10:22 am

Doumé,

It is serious rugby country. I went to a match 2 weeks ago and 1/4 of the town was at the game. Aurillac is still kind of small but 7,000 people out of 30k is pretty impressive

Posted from France

By Agustin | November 18th, 2008 at 12:54 pm

Uruguay win