France WCB Roll Call

For fear of not seeing this blog updated, here is me trying to do my part as one of your groupies:

Name: Inara aka Mrs. Pernambucano
Location: Boston
Connection to the EDF: None unless you count Lyon.
Player: It was Zidane, but now it’s Benzema
Topic preferences: I love everything you post, but I have to say I enjoy the ones devoted to Domenech the most. Also, reports on scandals are always fun.

I just want to say that this is a fantastic blog, Laurie. I was searching for Lyon news in English one day and came across a post you had written. I’ve been hooked every since, and after I somehow found my way to the offside…well, you know the rest. I check here once a day (okay, many times more than once) to see what’s new here, and get a kick out of not just your entries but the atmosphere created by the commentators.

Suggestions for improvement: More shirtless pictures of the hot players too! There is just not enough nudity on this blog.

Good idea…nothing cryptic about my name. C’est Jean-Michel. I was born in Martinique, FWI. I moved to the States as a kid and now reside in Naples, Fl. My connection to the team is my nationality. My father always said “On habite au US mais chez nous, a la maison, on est on France”. Living in the US, we’re flooded with sporting events on tv. None of them have me talking to the tv like EDF. I’ve followed the team for as long as I can remember. My favorite player I think will always be Zizou because of the class of play he brought to the pitch and all the memorable moments he brought us (I shed a tear of joy in ‘98). No player on the current team posesses his talent/charisma but its a whole new generation that have much history to make. I too think the old guard need to gracefully bow out but I would like to see them all one last time (like we all thought we had after the 2006 world cup)at the Euro and hear the crowd chant once again “allez les vieux”. By the old guard I’m talking about Makelele,Thuram,Viera,Henry,Trezeguet,Gallas,Anelka(almost).

I stumbled on this site a couple months ago (probably in a google search)and have made it one of my daily rituals. Laurie, you are doing a great job keeping things fresh and relevant. Everyone on here brings a different perspective which is always interesting to see. I wouldn’t change anything.

Come on, boys and girls. I’ve got all weekend.

Name: L’Américain …aka Kyle (I think I may move to this, the accent is annoying to type)
Location: Hunterdon County, New Jersey (there is a silo in my backyard, not all of Jersey is a dump)
Connection to EDF: My best friend is dual, his parents are from Auvergne/Toulouse and are so welcoming and loving I couldn’t help feeling an affinity for France when I visited during the Confederations Cup in 2003 after I graduated from High School. Giant meals with his whole family, then crowding around a tv set watching the games on TF1 (I didn’t even know a word at the time). It started slowly, but now I can’t even explain the feeling I get watching Les Bleus, total chills and swearing at the TV/Monitor in French, culminating with watching France vs. Ukraine at Stade de France this summer. Had to of course walk through the city waving flags with a French flag cape, Zizou jersey and telling anyone that would ask ‘duex – zéro, Ribéry et Anelka’.
Favorite player: sans aucune doute, Zizou, he is the coming together of art and football

Found this site by chance sometime before January, it is the inspiration for my blog, I check it at least 10 times a day.

Laurie, keep up the amazing work, you are a daily part of my life and I very much appreciate everything you do. Gros bisous !

Sam, 16 years old, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
Lived in France during the 2006 WC, so did I really have a choice? I actually support Canada first, France second, without a doubt. I like Steve Mandanda, Cyril Rool, Jimmy Briand and Ludovic Obraniak. Yay.

I grew up in Normandy, France until the end of school, when I decided to see other places, ended up living in Pittsburgh, PA. I loved the team we had in the 80s, but it seemed that 1/2 finals in the WC was the highest we would go and then get crually crushed by Germany. After that generation passed, it looked like we had let our chance at greatness pass. The low point was 90 and 94 when we didn’t make the WC. But during that time (England might be going through this now) France had organized a great system to find and nurture good players, and 98 came, and the subsequent years. It was just amazing for me that we had the game to win, but also the attitude.
Of course Zidane for me is the best player and person.
These days, I like all these guys because they are a group but specially Ribéry and Sagnol.

My brush with fame: I played many Tournois de Sixte with my friends in Normandy (6-player teams tournament on a half pitch), we were having fun and we were sponsored by a café. Among the other teams one day, we played against Arques-la-Bataille where some guy grew up and used to play – now he was in the Monaco system; but he was here that day, hanging out with his buddies. So I saw this red haired mullet guy of about 17 and we had our game. He was amazing of course; rarely running, yet always where the ball arrived. A couple of times he took off like lightning. He scored twice almost without trying, I remember a lazy left-footer which arrived like a bomb. He took me down (I was playing right back) and helped me get up with apologies and we shook hands. They killed us and went on to win the tournament – they were good for our level but *he* was 20 leagues above. I thought we might see more of him. Well I did later on, as a Monaco player, then in Arsenal, and even in Bleu. He scored after Zidane’s double in the 98 final (same left foot), the mullet got transformed in a ponytail along the way
It was cool to play against Emmanuel Petit.

That’s awesome, Doumé! What a story to tell the grandkids, eh?

Location: Boston (hi Inara!)
Connection to les bleus: None whatsoever, unless you count having studied French in school.
Favourite player: Il n’y en aura toujours qu’un seul.

In the summer of 1998, my family took a 3-week-long road trip from NJ to California. The day of the WC final, we had gotten to Wisconsin and were staying at the house of a friend. (If not for that, I don’t think I would have ever gotten the chance to see the game televised.) Up to that point my only knowledge of the match at hand was an article in the NYTimes, published several weeks earlier, on the unusual ethnic makeup of that particular French side (for some reason the two names that stuck in the mind were Laurent Blanc’s and Henry’s). Of course, I had no idea what I was watching back then, though I did remember who scored, and the fireworks and jubilation on the Champs Elysées afterward.
From 1998 to 2006, football very little to do with my life. I missed the glory of 2000, the disaster of 2002, the disappointment of 2004—heck, I don’t think I even noticed when the WC happened in ’02. Thankfully, by the time 2006 rolled around globalization had advanced and Google Tracker had been invented, making it easy to follow the World Cup as a newbie.
I rooted for France for old times’ sake, and when I found out the guy who scored the two headers was still around—though old and not expected to do much—and had announced his retirement before the tournament. I rooted for them because of the memories they brought me that summer afternoon, when everyone else in the room was rooting for Brazil and I rooted for France for no other reason than that, well, it was France.
But it was supposed to be fun. I didn’t expect it to break my heart.

If you ask me today why I root for France, I can say many things—from the tradition to the style of play to the underdog Ligue 1, from the yellow canaries of Nantes to the Makélélé role to the cobalt blue jerseys, and much more besides. I mean, “Liberté, égalité, Jules Rimet”? Who else but the French could have come up with that slogan?
But the most basic, the most personal reason is that as someone with more than one cultural identity, I identify with this team. I don’t want to call the players role models (though if I were younger I probably would have done so); I’d rather just see them as human, and try to understand a little of what it means to bear the flag of one country while carrying the pride of another on one’s shoulders, and all the attendant complexities that comes with that.

As for suggestions, you are doing a great job and there really isn’t anything specific I can think of. Perhaps you can try out more often such categories as polls (does WCB support them?) and picture posts (something along the lines of Les Cahiers du Cinéma’s stuff or Inara’s Lyonnais PostSecret series), and maybe have guest bloggers on a slow news day to provide historical retrospectives, etc.
This blog is a joy to visit, and I want to thank you especially for paving the way for the other Offside French bloggers, from all of whom (and many of my fellow commentators besides) I have learned so much. Merci.

Glatisant,
Very neat story, I really agree with your feelings.
The strange thing for me is that I really appreciated Les Bleus more when I lived abroad rather than in France. I think all the “noise” around them (in the French media) got on my nerves; but from over here, we just have the games, and the players speak for themselves by playing. I could lurk on the French sites, but I really like it here. The tone is really respectful yet cool and fun. Laurie runs a great ship! (out of curiosity I looked at the Italian equivalent and it was just lots of insults, nothing positive like here).
Yes, my grandkids will hear all about Manu!

Okay, Doumé, here’s what I really want to know: Did you use the “I once played with Manu Petit” line to pick up women?

As well they should Doume. I’ll have to echo Glatisant’s sentiments on cultural identity. When I lived in the French West Indies you were who you were. When I came to the States, immediately people were trying to categorize me and neatly place me in one of their boxes. If anyone should appreciate diversity its the US. The make up of the French National team always seemed normal to me but odd to the rest of the world. I also feel that they carry this burden and in a sense have a role of educators. The more successful we are the more others will break down their preconceived notions about what a French citizen is and what they should look like.

…And of course, by Les Cahiers du Cinéma I meant Les Cahiers du Football, rofl
:dunce:

Laurie…no, but good idea! I might try sometime.

The accent usually helps though.

Incidentally, here’s the top 10 list of French players of the year 07 as voted by France Football. Gee no surprises here!
http://www.lequipe.fr/Football/breves2007/20071216_110148Dev.html

Someone posted the full list on my blog. I actually thought some of the names on it were kind of crazy. I was glad to see Puygrenier and Leroy because he’s the only guy from a small club (Bordeaux, Villareal, Bolton, and Fiorentina are considered big clubs within their league).

I’m surprised but delighted at seeing Benzema beat out former teammates Malouda and Abidal. It was also nice to see Mandanda and Ben Arfa get a nod. Poor Trez, he’s below Sidney Govou. I get the feeling that no one takes him seriously in France anymore.

Le classement :
1. Franck RIBÉRY (Bayern Munich) : 126 points
2. Thierry HENRY (FC Barcelone) : 76 pts
3. Karim BENZEMA (Lyon) : 63 pts
4. Florent MALOUDA (Chelsea) : 60 pts
5. Eric ABIDAL (FC Barcelone) : 47 pts
6. Samir NASRI (Marseille) : 28 pts
7. Claude MAKELELE (Chelsea) : 15 pts
8. William GALLAS (Arsenal) : 12 pts
9. Nicolas ANELKA (Bolton) : 10 pts
Jérôme LEROY (Rennes)
Philippe MEXÈS (AS Roma)
12. Jérémy TOULALAN (Lyon) : 7 pts
Lilian THURAM (FC Barcelone)
14. Ulrich RAMÉ (Bordeaux) : 5 pts
15. Hatem BEN ARFA (Lyon : 3 pts
Julien ESCUDÉ (FC Séville)
Sidney GOVOU (Lyon)
David TREZEGUET (Juventus de Turin)
19. Grégory COUPET (Lyon) : 2 pts
Olivier DACOURT (Inter Milan)
21. Patrice EVRA (Manchester United) : 1 pt
Sébastien FREY (Fiorentina)
Steve MANDANDA (Marseille)
Robert PIRES (Villarreal)
Sébastien PUYGRENIER (Nancy)

“The accent usually helps though.”

So true. I don’t consider Thierry Henry even remotely sexy until he opens his mouth. But that Va Va Voom commercial borders on the pornographic.

Did I just say that?

hmmmm! Yes you DID

Name: Massaer a.k.a. Madsear/Magnusson…
Location: PARIS
Connection to NT: PARIS born
Favorite player: I’m going to be super original and say ZIZOU. Now it’s Vieira because he’s senegalese like me and he grew up in my grandmom’s neighborhood. I also like the whole senegalese connection (Evra Patrice, Camara Zoumana, Diarra Lassana, Diarra Alou.) and the marseillais(Ribery, Flamini, Nasri, barthez etc). Aside from that the player that really makes me jump up and down is Anelka. Benzema’s growing on me and for me to like a Lyonnais,….

I like the new direction you’ve been taking, with the wives and players outside of the NT, as well as Domenech. I think that’s dope.
The truth is I have to congratulate you, I don’t even try to go to regular websites anymore, I just check yours when I need news on the NT. So that shows how much work you put in and having a blog myself I know it must be hard to write four of them.
So hats off lady, just keep doing what you’re doing

Massaer, I have to know: How did you learn to write English so well? You’re very close to sounding like a native speaker, which is tough. I would never even consider writing French.

Well Laurie, i went to a pretty good school an my dad used to watch CNN non-stop when I was a kid. So without knowing it, I picked up some stuff.
Plus my Gf all through high school was american and didn’t know a lick of french. I had to make the effort.

What a great discussion! I want to thank everybody for telling me about yourselves. It’s been so much fun to get to know you a little better, and what wonderful stories.

(And if you haven’t contributed yet, feel free. There’s no need for us to be done yet.)

I’ve enjoyed your comments (or your silent lurking) over the past year, but now I want you to tell me about yourself. Name (or pseudonym), location, what your connection is to the France NT, who your favorite player is, what you’d like to see me write more about, and anything else you want to say.

Name: Dan
Location: Outside Philadelphia
Me and France…connected how?: My mom’s from France, specifically Nantes (she wants to know how and when they became ligue 2!!!), so I have family there that I visit every other year…not to mention that during these trips I absolutely fall in love with the country experiencing it with my cousins. Used to play a lot of soccer as a younger kid, now as a young adult only really play tennis (play for my university), but trying to get back into soccer as we speak and following the international scene more and more (used to just be the world cup, which 98 and 06 were fabulous to watch for me!).
Favorite Player: Zidane forever is awesome. But currently, Nasri, I can’t wait to see what this kid can do.

I really enjoy this site, just for keeping me updated with the “French Footballers.” Not to mention, the writer seems quite witty keeping the entries amusing…so I definitely enjoy and appreciate it!
Thanks again!

Ooh, a former lurker! Welcome, Dan.

Tell your mom that Nantes got relegated last year, and Oh! The drama! Barthez came in mid-season as an expected savior but did not work the expected miracles, leading to him being physically attacked by Nantes fans and leaving town very quickly. And then Nantes continued its slide into relegation. If you search the blog for “Barthez” you might get a bit more of the story.

the writer seems quite witty keeping the entries amusing…

Flattery gets your everywhere here. (And that goes for the rest of you too.) Here, have a Christmas cookie!

Laurie requested that readers submit, “Name (or pseudonym), location, what your connection is to the France NT, who your favorite player is, what you’d like to see me write more about, and anything else you want to say.”

My name is Jeff. When I opened a Google e-mail account, the username Jeff was already taken, but a variation involving a soccer formation was available, and for months I’ve used the online pseudonym 433 (total newbie). I’m torn about the degree to which 433 is a lame pseudonym. A number makes for an impersonal name, but I do like numbers; like I said I’m torn.

I’m in New England. I’m American. My wife is French. We got married in France in the summer of 1998. I don’t think I’d watched a full game of soccer in my life before that summer, but I watched some of France’s warmup games for the world cup and every minute of their games during the world cup. I got hooked.

I really don’t have a favorite player. I like the France-Arsenal connection, so I’m more familiar with those players, and I often say that Vieira is a my favorite player, but I’m more into players like Gael Clichy and Bacary Sagna at this point. I write a fly-by-night blog about Arsenal and France: http://arsenal-france.blogspot.com/. It has a brand new link to this site.

I just found this site tonight, so I wouldn’t call myself a lurker. This is already my second post. I checked out Klye L’Américain’s site – that site looks like a lot of fun.

I’m way behind the curve on what’s already been discussed on this blog, but some potentially-relevant topics I’m interested in are:

1. Club versus Country – Is the quality of play better in top-level club football?
2. Euro 2008 – I like the draw with Holland and Italy. Where’s the fun in an easy draw?
3. France up-and-comers; The France first 11 for Euro 2008.
4. Form – the form of players and teams (Platonic Forms as well, but less so). Before the 2002 World Cup, France had the leading goal scorers in England (Henry), France (D. Cisse), and Italy (Trezeguet), plus Champions-League-final-hero Zidane – I thought they would peak as a national team that year. If you could explain to me why I was so mistaken, that would be useful.

Of the nine people who have responded, three are from the New England area. This is amazing to me.

[...] last, but probably my favorite, Roll Call. Thanks for [...]