France’s Other XIs

Agreed — if managed well, the future is very bright!

Younes Kaboul and Yoann Gourcuff are not that good. i see them play, they are overrated. Sakho is going to play for senegal. Faubert scored in his debut, he only have one cap but domenech prefer vieira, Diarra and makelele.
if didier become coach i think his ideal 11 would be like this:
Frey
Zebina – Gallas – Mexes – Clichy
Ribery – Toulalan – Flamini – Menez
Henry – Trezeguet

i think the rejects would have done the best lol, apart from diarra, rothen, and landreau.

personally im looking forward for a young creative team during qualifying for wc2010

———Frey———-
Sagna-Gallas-Mexes-Clichy (3 of these are Gunners, so the chemistry is there)
—Toulalan–Flamini—–
Ribery—Nasri—Ben Arfa
——-Benzema——–

our old guard needs to retire, apart form maybe
henry and viera (just because they used to be so great)
and i dont ever want to see abidal, malouda, govou, sagnol, anelka (sadly its over for him)
ever again.

Yesterday’s L’Équipe suggested the following squad for 2010 qualification as a possibility:

———Frey———–

Sagnol-Gallas-Mexès-Evra

–L. Diarra—Toulalan–

-Nasri————Ribéry

—-Benzema–Henry——

Sorry, I got Toulalan and Diarra mixed up above…

Two comments –
1 – I can’t understand how l’Equipe could put lassana Diarra and Toulalan together. It’s like he just put Makélélé and Toulalan together. They play the same role. You need someone to create damn it!
2 – These lineups are interesting but I feel Lloris, Gourcuff and Mathieu lost a few spôts by making wrong choices. Gouffran made an excellent choicre by going to Bordeaux. Obertan, Sakho and Saivet will be under 19 in 2010. Saivet won’t even be 18. At his spot, there are a lot more players with even more talent but I agree with you on the depth.

And I think Rami will confirm that Habib Bellaid is going to choose Tunisia as a grown up.

Totally unrelated to the current subject and I hate to pour salt on an open wound (ok I’m lying), but… has anyone here seen France’s SwissAir ticket to Paris?
http://www.gazzetta.it/Speciali/Europei/2008/Primo_Piano/2008/06_Giugno/18/pop_biglietto.shtml

I was playing FIFA 08 for PS3 against a friend the day after France was eliminated and I fielded this France XI:
———–Frey———————-
-Sagna—Gallas—-Mexes——-Clichy—
-Ribery—L.Diarra–Flamini—Rothen-
———Trezeguet(C)—-Benzema—-

I dont think this lineup is too far off what France’s new lineup might be. I’m interested in anyone’s thoughts on it.

The game also led me to ponder a new question. With Vieira and Thuram retiring from international play, who will France’s new captain be? I’ve thought about Trezeguet (assuming that he is recalled to the side) because of his experience and leadership that he could bring to the table but could Ribery be selected in order to give France a stable captain for years to come? Any other potential candidates?

Will Vieira retire? He still has a couple of years left. Make and Thuram, definitely.

If Henry stays on, it’ll be him. If not, probably Sagnol or Gallas. Ribery isn’t a leader, and neither is Trezeguet, assuming he gets recalled. The only other senior players (in terms of caps) still on the squad are Abidal, Malouda, and Govou, and they’ll be lucky if they’re still on the team come August.

Marco, last time I checked, Italy hasn’t taken the Delaunay trophy home, La Gazzetta shouldn’t be celebrating before they win the race. The Italy squad could also be going home con “mani vuote” (hopefully on Sunday night)!

Inara, speaking of Pat Vieira, did you see that yesterday he came out in favor of keeping Domenech at the helm?
“For stability” he says.
Wow that takes guts to say something like that these days!

MB,
Get rid of Rothen, make Gallas captain (I know but it shouldn’t be Ribery or Trez),put Ben Arfa on the left wing. If Nasri is not in your starting line up then he should be your first sub. At which point you should get rid of one holding midfielder.

mamma mia!!i have all reasons tyo believe that France will be International wilderness with the loss of Zidane, thurram, Viera, makelele, Henry( he may drag on for another two years but he is finished)..sadly you dont have replacements who can fill their shoes and once again, it is time for the French Federation to scout Senegal, ghana and other colonies to add more African talents to your EUROPEAN team….
wish you all the best in your endeavours!!

In response to the dual nationality comments, Sakho is not very likely to choose Senegal, his idol is Thuram and everyone within Clairefontaine is thinking he’ll be the eventual successor at center back. Bellaïd has already chosen France.

I agree that entering this World Cup, it’s unlikely to expect the U-18s Sakho, Saivet, D. Le Tallec, etc. to have an impact. If Obertan continues to his progression, he can’t be ruled out as a backup to Ribéry.

In any event, the WC 2010 lineup, in my opinion:

Frey
Sagna – Gallas – Mexès – Abidal/Evra/Clichy
Toulalan
Ribéry – Nasri – Ben Arfa
Benzema – Henry

2nd team:

Lloris/Mandanda
L. Diarra – Bellaïd – Sakho (if ready)/Squillaci – Abidal/Evra/Clichy
Mavuba – Flamini
Pjanic (if available)/Obertan – Ménez
Rémy – Gouffran

Oops, take out Gouffran and put in Trezeguet.

i think people are picking favourites to play for france in 2010. anything can happen in 2 years. new emerging talents may appear, players might get injured, maybe be the new coach want his own favourite players instead of domenech’s players.
@ seb
pjanic is not available.

@ Inara: I believe I saw on BBC Sport that Sagnol has announced his retirement from international football, so I think that would make the front-runner William Gallas.
@ Doumé: Here’s the Vieira article:

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=549675&cc=5901

It should be noted that in this article he also says he is unsure whether he will carry on until World Cup 2010.

@ Jean-Michel: Ben-Arfa is also an excellent choice to play left wing. Him and Nasri are both important substitutes. I also picked Flamini ahead of Toulalan because I feel he poses more of an attacking threat.

It’s a good point, Michel-Olivier. We don’t know what can happen in 2 years, the only thing we know now is that due to Domenech’s likely sacking, Mexès, Trezeguet, Pirès, Giuly, etc. are eligible again. We do have significant depth, but I believe it’s important that our players continue their development. After all, after we lost to Greece in the previous tournament, many, myself included, thought guys like Anthony Le Tallec or Mourad Meghni would have been in the team by now. So it’s important that the guys who are seen as rising stars now don’t take their reputation and perception for granted.

Oh, another thing, Michel-Olivier, I am actually not aware that Pjanic has been capped by Bosnia yet, as the Bosnian FA appears in total shambles, though it’s suggested that he will opt there. Although I included him anyway as a guy who would make it on our team as his ability is definitely that high, he could likely start, I think, for any national team if he continues improving at this rate, and he can develop emerge as a terrific #10. These days, it appears that more often than before, because of the FIFA take on dual nationalities, there are many players who actually backtrack out of their decisions as to which country they will represent, a recent example of that would be Issiar Dia, a guy who came out of Clairefontaine and involved in France U-x teams for years, who has joined Senegal.

In any event, as fascinating as the discussion of nationality was, I don’t wish to return to that subject if it’s not warranted. Instead, I think it’s key that whoever the nouveau sélectionneur is, they have to bring the bit of enthusiasm and excitement we so sorely lacked with Domenech. I think Mourinho had it exactly right, Domenech treated Makélélé as a slave, and in many ways, our team played as if they were slaves who were there only to carry out a duty. If we can bring that team spirit we had back in the glory days where it was actually FUN to play, then I think we’ll see a huge difference come the World Cup. On that note:

Mexès is almost indispensible now as while some can say he’s too aggressive, he has that fire and passion.
Vieira, if healthy, should remain in the team as Toulalan, while he performed very well, is a quiet, effective type of guy. If we are going to use 2 central midfielders, the other should be bolder.
Offensively, the team should have a Ben Arfa type, a guy who can disrupt defenses and beat multiple defenders. He’s only had a couple of minutes of action in L1 thus far, but Henri Saivet would actually be someone who could do that as well, as could Obertan.

Anyway, I’m very much enjoying everyone’s discussion and ideas. Though for today, Hup Holland!

MB, Willy Sagnol has said that he is waiting until the summer is over to decide. I think that means that, in short, he is waiting to see who the sélectionneur will be and whether he’ll be a part then.

Even if a new manager comes in, I don’t see Giuly or Pires returning to the fold. Trezeguet may get a chance, but he’ll probably get dropped again. His international days are pretty much over, and it has nothing to do with Domenech. The only person who will really benefit from Domenech’s firing would be Mexes.

If Sagnol steps down, that would open some space, but Clerc has been doing well, so things aren’t clear cut for Sagna. As for Clichy, even with a new manager, I don’t see Abidal or Evra being dropped unless they really suck. Which neither of them don’t. Ben Arfa’s chances depend on what he makes of his next move, to Marseille probably. Flamini’s position is not certain either – he might be more “attacking,” but it really depends on what the new manager will want, especially when Toulalan and Lassana Diarra are such terrific players.

Pires is done. His last real chance was ‘06. He will be 35 this year. Giuly will be 32. Have to agree with Inara on that one as well. Who knows though, if Deschamps becomes the new coach the two do have Monaco in common.