Saturday's demoralizing one-nil home loss to France in the first leg of their World
Cup play-off sees the Republic of Ireland facing an uphill task to reach next summer's
showpiece. As French fans start booking their flights to South Africa, the Irish faithful are left
praying for a miracle.
Two friendlies coming up Nigeria on June 2 and Turkey on June 5. Here's the list of players.
What do you think?
The big surprise is that Florent Malouda got the call, perhaps showing that
Raymond Domenech can look past personal feuds to actual current form?
Bordeaux 1 - 0 Lyon.
No Cavegol, no problem. French international and ex-Lyon player Alou Diarra's 43′rd minute
poke gave Les Girondins a deserved win against a rather lackluster Lyon side; adding misery to
manager Claude Puel's future and potentially kissed away Lyon's title hopes.
New! Shocking! Amazing! Unusual!
Except not really.
Clichy and Diaby are back from injury. Vieira is not called up. Remy merited a recall. Other
than that...
No new players on the list for the WC qualifiers against Romania and Serbia. Domenech is
obviously assuming that the old guard can get the new job done.
The Bordeaux Girondins were in Montreal to play the En avant Guingamp Club for the Champions
Trophy on Saturday, July 25. I guess they decided that since they were there anyways they'd play
the Montreal Impact.
Bordeaux captain, Alou Diarra, celebrates after winning the Champions Trophy soccer match
against En avant Guingamp in Montreal.
Vieira didn't make the squad. Domenech said he needs games to back into the team. Here's who did
make it:
Goalkeepers
Hugo Lloris (Lyon)
Steve Mandanda (Marseille)
Cedric Carrasso (Bordeaux)
Defenders
Eric Abidal (Barcelona/ESP)
Julien Escude (Sevilla/ESP)
Patrice Evra (Manchester United/ENG)
Rod Fanni (Rennes)
William Gallas (Arsenal/ENG)
Bacary Sagna (Arsenal/ENG)
Sebastien Squillaci (Sevilla/ESP)
Midfielders
Alou Diarra (Bordeaux)
Lassana Diarra (Real Madrid/ESP)
Yoann Gourcuff (Bordeaux)
Florent Malouda (Chelsea/ENG)
Moussa Sissoko (Toulouse)
Jeremy Toulalan (Lyon)
Franck Ribery (Bayern Munich/GER)
Forwards
Nicolas Anelka (Chelsea/ENG)
Karim Benzema (Real Madrid/ESP)
Thierry Henry (Barcelona/ESP)
Andre-Pierre Gignac (Toulouse)
Loic Remy (Nice)
Ribery is coming back from injury and Domenech hinted that he would probably be used
sparingly.
This is it. For all the marbles. The group of players that will (absolutely positively will) get
us at least to the UEFA playoffs for a World Cup slot.
Only "nouveau" is Nicolas Douchez from Rennes. (And FOUR goalkeepers? Have
Lloris and Mandanda not impressed Domenech enough to guarantee their spots for next summer?
Over the last few weeks, Jeu Du Jour has brought to your attention the incredible rise and rise of
Auxerre, a team that won only one of their first six games this season but who this weekend took
their place at the top of the Ligue 1 table.
It's been seven years since they've been at the French football summit, but a run of seven
consecutive wins means they've now dislodged champions Bordeaux from their lofty perch.
Not to dwell on the play-off saga any longer, but I missed this story about
Domenech fighting with Bixente Lizarazu(former Bordeaux, Bayern,
Marseille and France defender) on the French National Radio minutes after beating Ireland. If you
can't understand the video, this article should help you understand what is going on.
