Well, after all the drama, debates and anticipation- Raymond Domenech's list of players who will
be attending the training camp to compete for a spot to represent France in South Africa this
summer is about to be announced live on French TV....
Source: FFF
Keepers
- Cédric Carrasso (FCG Bordeaux)
- Mickaël Landreau (LOSC)
- Hugo Lloris (Ol.
First of all, let me congratulate Spain on their historical win today in the World Cup Final.
Congratulations!
Now that the World Cup is over, France can lick their wounds and we can all start looking
forward to a new season over in Ligue 1. A fellow Ligue 1 fan on Twitter said "So now real soccer
can start.
July 24, 2010
2045CET, 1945GMT
Cosenza, Calabria, Italy
After losing 2-0 in Portugal last weekend, OL head to southern Italy to play the third friendly
of the pre-season against Serie A giants Juventus. Claude Puel will continue a balancing act,
continuing to juggle the use of his first teamers with the CFAs due to a few injuries and the
continued abscence of the International players who still are not up to match fitness following
their returns from holiday.
Wednesday 28 July, 2010
1945 CET, 1845 GMT
City Ground Stadium, Nottinghamshire, England
Wednesday, OL head into the fourth friendly of the preseason, as they tune-up for the last two
matches of the preseason in the Emirates Cup, which will commence on Saturday vs.
Is the next Gourcuff lurking in here? Some Ligue 1 bloggers think
so...
Ligue 1 is often thought of as a hunting ground for the EPL, La Liga and Serie A to find young
talent to recruit (poach!). And Ligue 1 fans often get a kick out of EPL, La Liga and Serie A
teams and fans claiming to have discovered these players once they move away from France- mostly
because we have been watching these players perform amazing feats for a few seasons.
After an ambitious pre-season programme -but disappointing results- against a series of foreign
teams, our eyes were set on this long awaited first game of the new season. Would Lloris go past
the WC trauma and be more settled and reassuring than in his previous game? Would Toulalan's move
to CB, Boumsong's departure, Cris's good preseason work and Lovren's maturation finally solve our
defense problems?
It's almost September, and that can only mean one thing, Euro 2012 qualifiers. Laurent Blanc has
an immense task ahead of him. He must create a new squad using the inexperienced squad that faced
Norway and the Mondialists. If that isn't a hard enough task, add all of the suspensions and
injuries that France is currently burdened with, and Les Bleus have some serious problems.
The Road to Euro 2012 continues on Tuesday...
Euro 2012 qualifying continues tomorrow (Tuesday, September 7) after the most countries kicked
off their qualification campaign last Friday. And even though we are two years away from the
final tournament and its only matchday 2- some countries are already under pressure to get
results.
The charm worked again. For their Champions League debut, just as they felt their back was
coming dangerously close to the wall, last year's semi-finalists -almost turned into a Ligue 1
relegation candidate this year- have found the path to success...at last, as it is their first win
since the Brest game on August 21st.
*Apologies for the quality, best one I could find at the time
The history between these two teams is a tale of two eras. Historically, Bordeaux have
dominated the matchup, winning 20 and drawing 15 of the past 45 Ligue 1 matches. The more recent
history tells a different story.
I have a question for you : what is best, a good game with a loss in the end, or a -very-
average game ending with a win? That's the choice Lyon has just proposed us in the space of 4 days.
Just after offering, during the derby, a level of play unseen this season and worthy of a Champions
League game, Lyon did not shine in Tel Aviv, but secured the result.
I'm going to keep this preview short because in the two weeks since these sides last met, Lyon
haven't improved (they might have un-improved a little bit, actually). So there's really no point
in goring through all the stats and shit. To do a quick recap, Lyon tied to Arles (which until last
weekend, I didn't think was even possible), lost to PSG in the League Cup (which I'm going to
pretend doesn't count for anything), and beat Sochaux.
After an epic encounter in Marseille, having Auxerre coming to Gerland probably will almost go
unnoticed. But hey, the first half of the season isn't over yet, and we have an opportunity to get
3 points and take the unbeaten run to 12 matches without defeat. It would be good for the team to
start the winter break with this comforting fact.
