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The List for Next Week’s A and A’ Games

March 20th, 2008 | By: Laurie | 21 Comments »

I’m desperately trying to figure out a way to convince my kids to go to the A’ game next Tuesday. I’ll be in Paris, so why not? I don’t think it will happen, but hey. It might, right? (Where is stade Charléty anyhow?)

Just a few thoughts on the list:

Is this really Mathieu Bodmer’s first call-up? For some reason I thought he’d been around before.

I’m happy to see Gael Clichy again. The biggest bright spot in the dreary A’ game last time around was his face during the national anthem. He was aglow.

Good to see Mathieu Valbuena on the list. He’s always fun to watch. And Louis Saha’s back! Think he’ll be A or A’?

From the Italian contingent, Philippe Mexes and Sebastien Frey are on the list. But not Trezeguet. Again.

And Mavuba’s back. Interesting. He fell off my map when he left France, but I guess he’s on Domenech’s again now that he’s back.

Somebody tell me what you know about Mathieu DELPIERRE from VFB Stuttgart and Adil RAMI of LOSC. I don’t know enough about either to form an opinion at this point.

Anything else interesting that you see?

UPDATE: Louis Saha picked up an injury against Bolton on Wednesday. Is this just his luck or what? Called up now is “Florent Sinama-Pongolle (photo), le jeune buteur du Recreativo Huelva (Espagne).” Anybody know anything about this young goal-scorer for Recreativo Huelva in Spain?

Liste des joueurs sélectionnés

Gardiens de But
Grégory COUPET Olympique Lyonnais
Sébastien FREY ACF Fiorentina
Mickaël LANDREAU Paris-SG
Stève MANDANDA Olympique de Marseille

Défenseurs
Eric ABIDAL F.C. Barcelone
Jean-Alain BOUMSONG Olympique Lyonnais
François CLERC Olympique Lyonnais
Gaël CLICHY Arsenal FC
Mathieu DELPIERRE VFB Stuttgart nouveau
Julien ESCUDE F.C. Séville
Patrice EVRA Manchester United
William GALLAS Arsenal F.C.
Gaël GIVET Olympique Marseille
Philippe MEXES AS Roma
Adil RAMI LOSC nouveau
Bakary SAGNA Arsenal F.C.
Sébastien SQUILLACI Olympique Lyonnais
Lilian THURAM F.C. Barcelone

Milieux de Terrain
Mathieu BODMER Olympique Lyonnaisnouveau
Alou DIARRA F.C.G. Bordeaux
Lassana DIARRA FC Portsmouth
Mathieu FLAMINI Arsenal F.C.
Claude MAKELELE Chelsea FC
Rio Antonio MAVUBA LOSC
Samir NASRI Olympique de Marseille
Jérôme ROTHEN Paris-SG
Jérémy TOULALAN Olympique Lyonnais
Patrick VIEIRA Inter de Milan

Attaquants
Nicolas ANELKA Chelsea FC
Hatem BEN-ARFA Olympique Lyonnais
Karim BENZEMA Olympique Lyonnais
Jimmy BRIAND Stade Rennais
Djibril CISSE Olympique de Marseille
Sidney GOVOU Olympique Lyonnais
Thierry HENRY F.C. Barcelone
Florent MALOUDA Chelsea FC
Franck RIBERY Bayern Munich
Louis SAHA Manchester United
Mathieu VALBUENA Olympique de Marseille nouveau

That’s it for me till I get back, unless I can find an internet cafe while I’m there. I know Jeff will keep you informed and entertained about the games.

Tags: Friendlies, Player News

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Comments

By Brandon | March 20th, 2008 at 2:07 pm

no sagnol???
is there a reason for this?

Posted from Canada

By Laurie | March 20th, 2008 at 2:21 pm

Sagnol is injured. Not sure of the nature of the injury. Any Bayern Munich fans know?

Posted from United States

By Inara | March 20th, 2008 at 3:24 pm

Delpierre’s inclusion makes sense since he’s a right back, and Sagnol is out. I’ve always thought that France’s weakest position is RB because besides Sagnol, we don’t have anyone outstanding (but in all other positions we have amazing depth). Neither Sagna, Clerc, or Diarra have convinced me, and apparently, not Domenech either, hence why he called up Delpierre so he can observe him personally.

Rami’s inclusion in the squad is kind of weird. He’s a tall young kid, but he has like 17 L1 games under his belt, and even then, he hasn’t been anything special. But he recently turned down Morocco, and perhaps this is Domenech’s way of convincing the player to lean towards France (because we are low on young CBs). Or perhaps he saw something in Rami that the rest of us didn’t.

As for Sinama-Pongolle! Well, I was surprised to say the least. But Piquionne (Le Tallec’s cousin) is injured I believe, and Trezeguet refuses to play for the A’ team. Anyway, Sinama-Pongolle is the poster boy for French boys leaving home too early. He had a great U17 world cup, but then he signed for Liverpool and nearly ruined his career. After several years of nonexistence in the EPL, he finally landed a deal with Recreativo, where he’s finally rebuilding his career and showing off his talent once again. I thought it was too late for him, but I guess not.

Posted from United States

By Eric | March 20th, 2008 at 3:27 pm

Crap no Sagnol. Oh Well. Good to see new faces. You see Domenech can be flexible. I am amazed at how many talented faces we have that can compete to play for France. This is Good news. Well maybe not for Trezeguet.

Posted from United States

By glatisant | March 20th, 2008 at 6:28 pm

Yes, this is Bodmer’s first selection.
What I’ve heard about Rami: he made the jump to Lille from an amateur club two years ago, and made just two appearances last season. Only recently has he become a regular starter there, since the start of the second half of this season (15 game appearances so far).

Posted from United States

By jeff | March 20th, 2008 at 8:17 pm

I watched Sinama-Pongolle several times when he played for Liverpool. He’s pretty good on the ball - a nice player to watch. He had struck me as a player who’s borderline International quality. He was playing kind of as a winger for Liverpool, as I remember.

By Seb | March 21st, 2008 at 12:05 pm

Obviously I’m a bit gutted that Trez and Lloris (though in Hugo’s case, it very well could be that our U-21 coach asked Raymond to allow him to stay in Espoirs as we’re underachieving on that front) aren’t in, but happy to see Mexès is in spite of his feud with Domenech. Mavuba, who’s been terrific since he’s back in the hexagon, is also good to see, and I’m happy that S-P is in, though he was more deserving the previous season, although even now, I’d rather have him than Louis “I’ll get injured even if I’m consigned to a room with Teflon walls” Saha, and I’m a MU fan!

Although I like S-P, I think the only 2 players who are sort of “additions” (either we haven’t seen them in a while or they are making their debuts) that have a shot at being in the 23 going to Austria/Switzerland are Bodmer and Mavuba.

Oh, and I’d disagree with Inara about right back, as really, Sagna’s been one of the best right backs in the world this season. Though of course, we don’t know what Domenech watches or doesn’t watch.

By Patrick | March 23rd, 2008 at 6:03 pm

Trezeguet was called up for the injured Benzema!

http://www.fff.fr/bleus/431096.shtml

Posted from United States

By lefutur | March 23rd, 2008 at 7:10 pm

This was literally the only way trez was gonna make it into the squad but if he pulls off a good performance….well, who knows?

Posted from United States

By glatisant | March 23rd, 2008 at 7:39 pm

Other replacements:
Reveillère for Sagna
Lloris for Frey

Posted from United States

By glatisant | March 23rd, 2008 at 8:24 pm

Valbuena is also injured, as is Vieira.

Posted from United States

By glatisant | March 23rd, 2008 at 8:48 pm

L’Equipe is saying Vieira has muscular fatigue in his left thigh, but will be at Clairefontaine Monday. I bet Inter will be thrilled about that.

Posted from United States

By Inara | March 24th, 2008 at 9:24 am

Henry out, Loic Remy in.

Domenench has lost a quarter of his squad in three days.

Posted from United States

By Laurie | March 24th, 2008 at 9:34 am

Benzema’s injured? WTF? I can’t leave these guys alone for a minute, can I?

I was watching the Chelsea-Arsenal game yesterday and saw both Sagna and Clichy go down. But I had no idea about the others. You guys are going to have to keep me informed till I get to Paris tomorrow. (These injuries suck.)

Posted from United Kingdom

By Doumé | March 24th, 2008 at 11:54 am

Wow, so that would leave Anelka as a starter and maybe Trezeguet if we have 2 strikers…Hmm. That sounds like an interesting combo. David, now’s your time; go do it!

Laurie, have a very nice time in France! How long are you staying and are you just in Paris or moving around?

By lefutur | March 24th, 2008 at 3:19 pm

we could get anelka and cisse atarting on wednesday.

By Magnusson | March 24th, 2008 at 5:28 pm

Stade Charlety is on the RER B, blue line. Station Cité Universitaire.
It’s close to Paris, on the southern end of it.
It’s cool, the game is not sold out yet and the places will be 10 euros a piece.

Posted from France

By Patrick | March 24th, 2008 at 7:15 pm

Cissé starting would be disappointing.

Posted from United States

By Eric | March 24th, 2008 at 11:53 pm

Patrick I agree 100%. I don’t want to see Cisse starting. How could you start Cisse with names like Anelka, Trezeguet, and Govou? He is not as impressive. I would like to say that though we have been hit hard with these injuries we still have a lot of talent and should take care of Mali and England easily.

Posted from United States

By sandrahn | March 25th, 2008 at 10:47 am

sagna is definitely injured, clichy is ok

Posted from United States

By laurie | March 26th, 2008 at 12:48 pm

Doumé, I’m in Paris only this time, leaving Saturday for Dublin. Back to the US onthe 5th. Someday I’ll make it around the country.

Massaer, I decided it wouldn’t be fair to drag my family to two games in a row. I was hoping the A’ game would be on TV here, but no such luck. Off to the game in half an hour. Can’t Wait!!

Posted from France

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