The A and A’ Lists for France

February 4th, 2008 | by: Laurie |

News from the fff on who’s playing in which game:

Les A face à l’Espagne :

Coupet, Landreau –
Sagnol, Clerc, Thuram, Gallas, Escudé, Abidal, Evra –
Toulalan, Makelele, L. Diarra, Vieira (cap) –
Govou, Anelka, Henry, Benzema, Malouda, Ben Arfa.

Les A’ face à la RD Congo :

Lloris, Mandanda –
Sagna, Boumsong, Squillaci, Mexes, Givet, Clichy –
Flamini, A. Diarra, Nasri, Diaby, Rothen –
Briand, Cissé, Ménez.

The big injury news is that Franck Ribery is out for three weeks with a “thigh problem.” Get better, soon, Franck. France tends to suck without you. Sebastien Frey is out as well, with Hugo Lloris replacing him.

The only big surprise for me in the lists is Nasri. Being in the A’ has to sting a bit, especially with Ribery out. Not that they’re exactly comparable, but still. But maybe he’s in A’ to keep Ménez company? I’m also a little surprised to see Lassana Diarra in the A group, but I read he played his behind off at Pompey over the weekend. And he was magic against Italy in September and is probably still wearing the halo from that.

And I’m thrilled to see that Sagnol’s back in A(!!!) and Julien Escudé’s there as well. (LOVE Sagnol and Escudé.)

Now the big question: Domenech can’t start Makelele and Vieira together, can he? He really, really needs to combine old and new.

I’m searching for viewing options for either or both games. If you’re aware of any, let me know.

France World Cup Blog RSS Feed

http://ghana.worldcupblog.org Inara

I think Domenech figured that with Nasri not having fully recovered from his injury and being off form, it would be better if he played a full game against Congo then playing 15 or so minutes against Spain. Right now, Nasri is in no condition to influence a game in such a short amount of time and against such opposition.
John

I wonder how France would fair if A’ faced off against Spain. Any thoughts?
lefutur

wow, look at all those defensive midfielders in the A group. And Nasri would probably help so much, even if it was for only 15 minutes.
http://ghana.worldcupblog.org Inara

Yeah but look at all the attackers in the A group. France are looking very top heavy at the moment, whereas before they used to bulge around the middle.
http://france.worldcupblog.org Laurie

From myp2p.eu about the Congo game.

A station is available and will appear here from 15:00 on the day of the event.

So be sure to check back, everybody. Because I certainly haven’t found any legit, official sites for this game.
http://www.wickeddeflection.com/ 433

That central midfield is still a quandary. In Laurie’s post it says that Vieira is the designated captain, so that tells me he’ll be in the first 11. Has anyone watched him playing for Inter lately?

Toulalan has been receiving a huge vote of confidence from the readers of this site; maybe he’ll partner Vieira.

Is Sagnol likely to start? I’d really like to see Evra get a start.

Of the 5 Arsenal players in the squad, 4 are in the A’ team. The fullbacks, Sagna and Clichy, are good enough for the A, but there are a lot of options in the fullback positions. A’ is probably the right place for Flamini and Diaby.

Lassana Diarra’s decision to quit Arsenal looks like it’s paying off.
F

agree on fullbacks, but don’t forget Domenec needs to see these new players in action. Having them on the A bench and just play 20 mn would not be very meaningful… it’s better to have them on the A’ pitch.
http://ghana.worldcupblog.org Inara

It looks like Eurosport are showing this match online.

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/05022008/58/international-watch-france-v-congo-live.html