PARIS Nike announced its partnership with the French Football Federation today at the Espace Cambon, unveiling the new team kits with French players Abou Diaby, Alou Diarra, Florent Malouda and Yann MVila, France Coach Laurent Blanc and NIKE, Inc. President and CEO, Mark Parker. The elegantly designed kits combine French style and tradition with Nike [.

French champions Marseille smashed Manchester United 8-2 in a pre-season encounter in Monaco on Tuesday night. Goals by Nicolas Nkoulou, Alou Diarra and a double from Loic Remy, Jordan Ayew (pictured) and Benoit Cheyrou sent the Red Devils to their most humiliating defeat under Sir Alex Ferguson. Admittedly, the Premier League champions were without a [.

Via US Soccer:

Will it be Chandler's forehead vs. Ribery's....face?

France head coach Laurent Blanc has named a 22-man roster for the upcoming match against the U.S. Men's National Team on Nov. 11. Blanc calls in a formidable squad for the countries' first meeting since 1979, with Ballon d'Or nominees Eric Abidal and Karim Benzema among the headliners.

Here's Laurent Blanc's selection for the friendly on Wednesday in Montpellier against Chile:

Goalkeepers
Hugo Lloris (Lyon)
Cedric Carrasso (Bordeaux)
Steve Mandanda (Marseille)

Defenders
Eric Abidal (Barcelona)
Patrice Evra (Manchester United)
Younes Kaboul (Tottenham)
Adil Rami (Valencia)
Anthony Reveillere (Lyon)
Bacary Sagna (Arsenal)
Mamadou Sakho (PSG)

Midfielders
Yohan Cabaye (Newcastle)
Alou Diarra (Marseille)
Yann M'Vila (Rennes)
Florent Malouda (Chelsea)
Marvin Martin (Sochaux)
Blaise Matuidi (PSG)
Samir Nasri (Arsenal)
Jeremy Menez [read more]

Nike announced its partnership with the French Football Federation today at the Espace Cambon, unveiling the new team kits with French players Abou Diaby, Alou Diarra, Florent Malouda and Yann MVila, France Coach Laurent Blanc and NIKE, Inc. President and CEO, Mark Parker.

France's World Cup campaign in South Africa last summer will go down as one of the most ill-fated of a major football nation but coach Laurent Blanc appears to have finally got his players and the French public to focus on the future rather than the past
The noises emanating from Les Bleus' training camp at Clairefontaine in the last few days have been positive ones.

That's a 4th consecutive 2-0 victory for France in Euro 2012 qualifying. They started like this:

Benzema
Malouda Nasri(c) Ribery
M'Vila Gourcuff
Evra Mexes Rami Sagna
Lloris

Some of the other players who we might have seen instead of Ribery and Evra, who missed out either through injury or the manager's preference, include Valbuena, Menez, Alou Diarra, Clichy, Diaby, Hoarau, and Abidal.

If this friendly were held before a qualifier, it would be more interesting. Instead, it's coming right after a qualifier, and over two months before the next one, and in the midst of the final stages of the domestic seasons. The timing of the match conspires to make it insignificant.

Furthermore, even the recent qualifier against Luxembourg was a bit of a damp squib, a soggy firecracker.

I've just watched a couple Lille matches the Coupe de France (French Cup) final victory over Paris Saint-Germain on the weekend and the almost-league-title-clinching victory tonight over Sochaux.

The secret to Lille's success appears to be good players. A fair few of them are French most notably their rock at the back, and France's first-choice right-sided central defender, Adil Rami (who's transferring to Valencia at the end of the season).

With France's next Euro Qualifier a week from today, let's a take a look at where things stand:

France's Upcoming Matches
Friday, June 3, 2011 – Qualifier 6 of 10 – Away to Belarus
Monday, June 6, 2011 – A friendly away to Euro 2012 co-host Ukraine
Thursday, June 9, 2011 – A friendly away to Euro 2012 co-host Poland

Euro Qualifying Group D Standings
France – 12 points from 5 matches
Belarus – 8 points from 5 matches
Albania – 8 points from 5 matches
Bosnia and Herzegovina – 7 points from 4 matches
Romania – 5 points from 5 matches
Luxembourg – 1 point from 6 matches

Here are the players called up to face Belarus, who defeated France 1-0 in Paris in September.

Vocal Laurent Blanc supporter Alou Diarra has just transferred within France's top division (Ligue 1) from Bordeaux to Marseille.

The shortened versions of these club names I can type without worrying about the spelling the full names, though, are much, much cooler.

Olympique de Marseille; and
FC Girondins de Bordeaux.

I am far from the best person to write a scouting report on Olympique de Marseille, but no one else is volunteering. (Add comments if you have any thoughts.)

Match: Champions League Group Phase Away to the Arsenal

Result: 0-0

Standings after this 4th match
1.

France head coach Laurent Blanc has named a 22-man roster for the upcoming match against the U.S. Men's National Team on Nov. 11. Blanc calls in a formidable squad for the countries' first meeting since 1979, with Ballon d'Or nominees Eric Abidal and Karim Benzema among the headliners. The U.S. Men's National Team will release its roster on Thursday.

Euro Qualifying Group D Standings
France – 13 points from 6 matches
Belarus – 12 points from 7 matches
Bosnia and Herzegovina – 10 points from 6 matches
Romania – 8 points from 6 matches
Albania – 8 points from 6 matches
Luxembourg – 1 point from 7 matches

France's Remaining Qualifiers
Friday, September 2, 2011 Away to Albania
Tuesday, September 6, 2011 Away to Romania
Friday, October 7, 2011 Home against Albania
Tuesday, October 11, 2011 Home against Bosnia and Herzegovina

Here is the call-up for next week's qualifiers away to Albania and Romania:

Goalkeepers
Hugo Lloris (Lyon)
Cédric Carrasso (Bordeaux)
Stève Mandanda (Marseille)

Defenders
Bacary Sagna (Arsenal)
Younès Kaboul (Tottenham)
Eric Abidal (Barcelona)
Patrice Evra (Manchester United)
Laurent Koscielny (Arsenal)
Adil Rami (Valencia)
Anthony Réveillère (Lyon)

Midfielders
Yohan Cabaye (Newcastle)
Alou Diarra (Marseille)
Yann M'Vila (Rennes)
Marvin Martin (Sochaux)
Blaise Matuidi (PSG)

Attacking Midfielders/Wingers
Samir Nasri (Manchester City)
Franck Ribéry (Bayern Munich)
Jérémy Ménez (PSG)
Mathieu Valbuena (Marseille)
Florent Malouda (Chelsea)

Strikers
Karim Benzema (Real Madrid)
Kevin Gameiro (PSG)
Guillaume Hoarau (PSG)
Loïc Rémy (Marseille)

That's a squad of 24, which is already one more than France can take to official tournaments, but I still find it curious to see Gael Clichy dropped after having started the previous match in the friendly against Chile.

Euro Qualifier on Friday.

Fifa.com has a post about Cisse and Gomis being called up as replacements to injured players who include:

Benzema;
Ribery; and
Sagna.

That's 3 starters, plus Abidal reportedly has "fitness concerns."

Mexes is still out, right? We should get an updated roster:

From AFP "one day ago":

Revised France squad

Goalkeepers
Hugo Lloris (Lyon)
Steve Mandanda (Marseille)
Cedric Carrasso (Bordeaux)

Defenders
Eric Abidal (Barcelona/ESP)
Mathieu Debuchy (Lille)
Adil Rami (Valencia/ESP)
Patrice Evra (Manchester United/ENG)
Anthony Reveillere (Lyon)
Younes Kaboul (Tottenham/ENG)
Laurent Koscielny (Arsenal/ENG)
Jeremy Mathieu (Valencia/ESP)

Midfielders
Alou Diarra (Marseille)
Yohan Cabaye (Newcastle/ENG)
Yann Mvila (Rennes)
Florent Malouda (Chelsea/ENG)
Jeremy Menez (Paris SG)
Samir Nasri (Manchester City/ENG)
Marvin Martin (Sochaux)
Mathieu Valbuena (Marseille)

Forwards
Bafetimbi Gomis (Lyon)
Kevin Gameiro (Paris SG)
Loic Remy (Marseille)
Djibril Cisse (Lazio/ITA)

Just a brief reminder that if France do not win against Albania, we're probably screwed (i.

Take a look for yourselves, courtesy of the mugshots on FFF.fr. And that's without Gourcuff.

I'll update later, but here's the squad to face the USA and Belgium:

Goalkeepers
Cedric Carrasso (Girondins Bordeaux)
Hugo Lloris (Olympique Lyon)
Steve Mandanda (Olympique Marseille)

Defenders
Eric Abidal (Barcelona)
Matthieu Debuchy (Lille)
Laurent Koscielny (Arsenal)
Adil Rami (Valencia)
Anthony Reveillere (Lyon)
Jeremy Mathieu (Valencia)
Mamadou Sakho (Paris St Germain)

Midfielders
Yohan Cabaye (Newcastle United)
Alou Diarra (Marseille)
Yann M'Vila (Stade Rennes)
Marvin Martin (Sochaux)

Attacking Midfielders
Franck Ribery (Bayern Munich)
Jeremy Menez (PSG)
Samir Nasri (Manchester City)
Florent Malouda (Chelsea)

Forwards
Karim Benzema (Real Madrid)
Kevin Gameiro (PSG)
Olivier Giroud (Montpellier)
Loic Remy (Marseille)

GK: Cédric Carrasso (Bordeaux), Hugo Lloris (Lyon), Steve Mandanda (Marseille) DEF: Eric Abidal (Barcelona), Matthieu Debuchy (Lille), Jérémy Mathieu (Valencia), Laurent Koscielny (Arsenal), Adil Rami (Valencia), Anthony Réveillère (Lyon), Mamadou Sakho (PSG) MID: Yohan Cabaye (Newcastle), Alou Diarra (Marseille), Florent Malouda (Chelsea) Yann M'Vila (Rennes), Marvin Martin, (Sochaux), Samir Nasri (Manchester City) FOR: Karim Benzema (Real Madrid), Kevin Gameiro (PSG), Jérémy Ménez (PSG), Loïc Rémy (Marseille), Franck Ribéry (Bayern Munich), Olivier Giroud (Montpellier)

France national team head coach Laurent Blanc has released his roster for the upcoming friendly against the U.S. men's national team, and as expected, the team is stacked.

Karim Benzema, Samir Nasri and Hugo Lloris headline a 22-man roster that will face the United States and Belgium on November 11 and 15, respectively.

France has shuffled its roster ahead of the game on Friday with the U.S. MNT. Samir Nasri will miss the game due to a knee injury. Manager Laurent Blanc has not elected to call up a replacement but there are a few other injury doubts for Les Bleus ahead of Friday's game. Both Yohan Cabaye and Florent Malouda have fitness concerns.

The United States is set to face its biggest test of the Klinsmann era with a visit to France on Friday in an international friendly. This is just the third meeting between the two teams with France winning the previous two games 6-0 and 3-0 in 1979.

France
France has already qualified for Euro 2012 so expect France coach Laurent Blanc to give some younger players much needed experience.