IN:
CRIS: Cris and OL finally came to a happy medium and our captain has penned a
new two year deal. No word on any other numbers, yet the contract should pay somewhat less than his
old deal, which was a whopping 4,2M€ per year, the fourth highest in L1.
Deuce resurfaces in a Roma shirt- nah, it's Jeremy Menez
Laurent Blanc announces a 22 man roster against Norway and a virtually clean slate.
GOALKEEPERS: Nicolas Douchez (Rennes), Stephane Ruffier (Monaco)
DEFENDERS: Aly Cissokho (Lyon), Mathieu Debuchy (Lille), Rod Fanni (Rennes), Philippe Mexes
(Roma/ITA), Adil Rami (Lille), Mamadou Sakho (Paris St Germain), Benoit Tremoulinas (Bordeaux)
MIDFIELDERS: Yohan Cabaye (Lille), Lassana Diarra (Real Madrid/ESP), Blaise Matuidi
(Saint-Etienne), Yann Mvila (Rennes), Samir Nasri (Arsenal/ENG), Charles Nzogbia (Wigan/ENG),
Moussa Sissoko (Toulouse)
STRIKERS: Hatem Ben Arfa (Marseille), Karim Benzema (Real Madrid/ESP), Jimmy Briand (Lyon),
Guillaume Hoarau (Paris St Germain), Jeremy Menez (Roma/ITA), Loic Remy (Nice)
Samir Nasri is back in favour.
French national team manager Laurent Blanc has stayed true to his promise by not calling up a
single member of the 2010 French World Cup squad. Instead, Blanc has picked 22 players who played
no part in the embarrassing World Cup campaign ahead of their friendly with Norway next week.
The axing of the World Cup squad members means there is now a place for Real Madrid striker
Karim Benzema.
It wasn't too long ago that the France national team shamed their country after a pitiful and
controversial World Cup tournament.
Despite all of the problems on and off the field, France's roster for next week includes 13
players who appeared for the national team in South Africa.
French fans, it's now up to players like Karim Benzema, Samir Nasri, Ben Afra, and Philippe
Mexes to salvage what's left of their nation's soccer pride as they look to turn it around for the
2014 World Cup.
There are only two days before France's decisive match against Belarus. From what I've seen,
Laurent Blanc is keeping a positive atmosphere at Les Bleus' headquarters. To reinforce the
optimism, Le President invited Zinedine Zidane to Clairefontaine to spend the day with the team.
This was a huge confidence boost for the team as a whole.
Just a few minutes before writing this post Laurent Blanc released his squad to face
Romania in the Stade de France on October 9th and Luxembourg in
Metz on October 12th. Both matches are Euro 2012 qualifiers. Here is the squad:
GARDIENS : Hugo Lloris (Lyon), Steve Mandanda (Marseille), Cédric Carrasso
(Bordeaux)
DÉFENSEURS : Bacary Sagna (Arsenal/ANG), Adil Rami (Lille), Philippe Mexès (AS Rome/ITA),
Mamadou Sakho (Paris-SG), Benoît Trémoulinas (Bordeaux), Gaël Clichy (Arsenal/ANG),
MILIEUX : Mathieu Valbuena (Marseille), Lassana Diarra (Real Madrid/ESP), Alou Diarra
(Bordeaux), Yann M'Vila (Rennes), Abou Diaby (Arsenal/ANG), Florent Malouda (Chelsea/ANG), Blaise
Matuidi (St-Etienne), Yohann Gourcuff (Lyon), Samir Nasri (Arsenal/ANG).
Liverpool's new sporting director Damien Comolli has only been in the job for 48 hours, but
already he has recommended his former St Etienne captain, Blaise Matuidi.
The future French international has been monitored already by the likes of Manchester United and
Arsenal. The 23-year-old is also held in high regard at international level.
PARIS, France — Unfashionable Lille drew 1-1 with St Etienne on Wednesday but it was enough to
guarantee they finished the year top of the French championship for the first time since 1949. A
trio of pursuing clubs failed to take advantage of them dropping two points, with PSG losing 2-0
away at Nancy, the [.
