With Nasri out injured, Blanc calls up a ready-made replacement from Lyon

November 9th, 2011 | by: jeff | Comments Off

Nasri has pulled out the squad injured (Malouda, Remy, and Cabaye are also injury doubts), but we all know that Lyon have an attacking midfielder who can do the job just as well, or better, on his day: our very own Yoann Gourcuff. But Gourcuff is left to watch from home as his club teammate Maxime Gonalons has been called up.

Congratulations to Maxime. I have not watched Lyon this season, which is disappointing. I will try to catch up so as to be less blind-sided by which of their midfielders gets called up.

France play friendlies against the US on Friday and Belgium on Tuesday, both in Paris’s Stade de France, the venue, of course, for the 1998 World Cup final. The crowd there has seemed more up-beat since Blanc took over, and attendances, from what I remember seeing, have been fairly strong.

These friendlies, though, do not generate a lot of interest. It is key for France, and the support of the team, that they play well and score goals. A 0-0 in a tense game, I can enjoy. Not so much in a friendly. Of course it should be treated as a training match with the same formation, etc. that Blanc would use in a competitive fixture, but the players need to give us something to be excited about with their brilliance on the pitch.

I hope at least a few of them are up for it.