If you're only going to have 5 players play well, make sure they include at least three defenders and the goalkeeper. I'm writing in a vacuum I did have the Setanta commentator who rightly pointed out how poor France were, but I have to say that I thought France were shocking.

Good performances: Sagna, Evra, Gallas, Lloris, Anelka
Poor: Henry, A.

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The play-off draw was by no means easy on Republic of Ireland and they have only FIFA officials to thank to for pitting them against underperforming but still very strong France side. This is obviously going to be most interesting duel in the World Cup play-offs and while we have no doubts both sets of players will be extremely motivated, it is the coaches that have the power to win this game for their team.

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This is it! The final World Cup qualifier! Are you excited?

Yeah, neither is anybody else. Let's still hope for a good showing.

As Jeff discussed, Serbia's win over Romania means France has no chance to go top of the group. France's win over Faroe Islands means that France is guaranteed the second-place playoffs.

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LES ÉQUIPES PROBABLES

FRANCE: Mandanda - Sagna, Gallas, Abidal, Evra - Govou, L. Diarra, Toulalan, Henry (cap.) - Anelka, Gignac
ILES FÉROÉ: Mikkelsen - Danielsen, Gregersen, Eliasen, Davidsen - A. Olsen, S. Olsen, Benjaminsen, Loekin - Jakobsen - Hansen

I was willing to bet my house yesterday that we'd be playing two DMs, and guess what?

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Il martedì di Champions è stato, come sempre, ricco di gol ed emozioni, ma anche di risultati a sorpresa. Meritato ma sicuramente inaspettato da tanti, lo strepitoso successo, "all'inglese" della Fiorentina contro il Liverpool di Benitez, una delle grandi d'Europa. Al Franchi è show del montenegrino Jovetic, sempre più elemento fondamentale del gruppo viola. Click to continue reading...

ALLEZ LYONNAIS!!! We can do this!

Lyon:

Lloris
Reveillere - Cris - Toulalan - Cissokho
Pjanic - Makoun - Kallstrom - Bastos
Gomis - Lisandro

Bench: Vercoutre, Ederson, Govou, Clerc, Delgado, Seguin, Gonalons

Fiorentina:

Frey
Comotto - Gamberini - Danielli - Gobbi
Donadel - Montolivo
Marchionni - Mutu - Vargas
Gilardino

Bench: Avramov, Kroldrup, Jovetic, Natali, Jorgensen, Pasqual, Santana

Feel free to post commentary, frustrations, and thoughts here during and after the game.

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Build your own team for next season.
I thought we should do our version of goal.com's article- which I can't seem to find, maybe they've pulled-it. Anyway, although I thought that the author got a couple of things right in his article, he was, IMO, shooting too low.

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1-0 Juninho(Pen) 35'2-0 S.Govou 70'2-1 S.Yatabare 82'3-1 K.Benzema 89'DISCLAIMER: Calcioplus non hosta alcun video pubblicato su di esso. Tutti i video pubblicati sono caricati da amanti di calcio su siti di video hosting come Youtube e Dailymotion ed ubicati dunque su siti esterni a Calcioplus. Calcioplus non è responsabile del contenuto di tali siti web. Click to continue reading...

Hopefully the International break helps our goalmeister out of his slump (goaless since Feb).

Saturday April 04, 2009
1 P.M. EST(19:00CET, 18:00GMT)
Le Stade Leon-Bollee

Saturday, Lyon take-on Le Mans in what will be the beginning of a brutal final stretch of matches that will make or break OL's hopes for an 8th consecutive league title.

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Despite the continuing string of injuries- that would have crippled a mere mortal team- Lyon are through to the knock-out stages of the CL. Doing much better than just picking-up the minimum one point needed before Tuesday's match in order to advance past the group stages, Lyon walked in and out of Stadio Artemio Franchi like they owned the place and took 3 points- and probably some Bistecca alla Fiorentina- with them.

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Dear Lyon,

Don't screw this up.

Hugs and kisses,

Me

Lyon:

Lloris
Reveillere - Boumsong - Bodmer - Kallstrom
Makoun - Toulalan - Juninho
Govou - Fred - Benzema

Bench: Vercoutre, Gassama, Cris, Mensah, Pjanic, Ederson, Piquionne, Mounier

Fiorentina:

Frey
Zauri - Kroldrup - Dainelli - Vargas
Kuzmanovic - Melo - Montolivo - Almiron
Gilardino - Mutu

Bench: Storari, Donadel, Jovetic, Gobbi, Jorgensen, Santana, Pazzini

Feel free to post commentary, frustrations, and thoughts here during and after the game.

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I'm buzzing from that France performance. I wrote about it a bit already, but the buzz still hasn't subsided.

I'm wary of getting carried away with hyperbole, but Yoann Gourcuff was a revelation, I thought. Starting in that most coveted of positions, central attacking midfield, the number 10 position, the Zidane role, he had a fine debut, with any number of marauding runs forward.

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France turned in a woeful performance to open their World Cup qualifying campaign, one they will want to forget. Austria opened the scoring with two very similar free kicks, with France looking like they didn't know what they were doing.
It was a collective failure to defend set pieces, but Mexes, on the first goal was horribly exposed. Click to continue reading...

(Summary is not available.) Click to continue reading...

1 - 0 Janko 8'
2 - 0 Aufhauser 41'
2 - 1 S.Govou 61'
3 - 1 Ivanschitz 72'
DISCLAIMER: Calcioplus non hosta alcun video pubblicato su di esso. Tutti i video pubblicati sono caricati da amanti di calcio su siti di video hosting come Youtube e Dailymotion ed ubicati dunque su siti esterni a Calcioplus. Click to continue reading...

L'équipe has the probable first 11 for France's opening world cup qualifier on Saturday :
Mandanda
Sagna, Mexès, Gallas, Evra
Govou, L. Diarra, Toulalan, Nasri
Benzema, Henry
In North America, Setanta will be showing both of France's upcoming world cup qualifiers on same-day tape delay:
Setanta broadcast at 4:00 p. Click to continue reading...

One derby down, one to go. Sunday Lyon will be traveling to Le Stade Geoffroy-Guichard to take on A.S. St. Etienne in the second derby of the season. This is the 96th derby the two teams have participated in. After having handled Grenoble Foot 38 in the first derby, Lyon will have to contend with a St.

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First thing. I'm thrilled by the win, and thrilled that we scored three goals, and thrilled that the Govou who showed up today was Visible Sidney, as opposed to his more-frequently-present evil twin, Invisible Sidney. And Sagna looks promising, especially offensively, and he and Benzema could be golden together when it comes to scoring.

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A new coach, several new players, new tactical systems...so I figured it was time for another team building exercise.

I can't resist this picture. It's Lyon to a T.

Between friendlies and the first few competitive games, we've gotten a vague idea about the kind of team Puel wants to form - tactically organized, defensively solid, players sticking to their roles (as opposed to last season, where players would be out of position all the time).

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From l'Equipe. No huge surprises for starters, but it's good to see Mexès starting. And I'm interested to see what Sagna can do, too.

Malouda and Govou feel like a weak attacking midfield. Are either Toulalan or L. Diarra going to help them out, do you think?

Le onze de départ : Mandanda - Sagna, Mexès, Gallas, Evra - Govou, Toulalan, L.

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Benzema celebrates after scoring Lyon's only goal in last year's 2-1 loss to Lorient.

This week, Lyon travel to Brittany to face FC Lorient at Le Stade Moustoir. Lorient is currently tied for 2nd place with seven other teams in L1, having defeated Le Mans 1-0 in the first week.

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