France NT News, Formations & Results

France World Cup squad:

Goalkeepers: Hugo Lloris (Tottenham /ANG), Steve Mandanda (Marseille), Mickaël Landreau (SC Bastia)

Defenders: Raphaël Varane (Real Madrid /ESP), Mamadou Sakho (Liverpool , ANG), Mathieu Debuchy (Newcastle/ANG), Laurent Koscielny (Arsenal /ANG), Lucas Digne (Paris), Eliaquim Mangala (Porto/POR), Bacary Sagna (Arsenal/ANG), Patrice Evra (Manchester United/ANG)

Midfielders: Yohan Cabaye (PSG), Paul Pogba (Juventus Turin/ITA), Blaise Matuidi (PSG), Moussa Sissoko (Newcastle/ANG), Clément Grenier (Lyon), Rio Mavuba (Lille), Mathieu Valbuena (Marseille)

Forwards: Karim Benzema (Real Madrid/ESP), Franck Ribéry (Bayern Munich/ALL), Antoine Griezmann (Real Sociedad/ESP), Olivier Giroud (Arsenal/ANG), Loïc Rémy (Newcastle/ANG).

Very logical list.  I can't criticize a thing tbh.  Happy that Cabella, Lacazette, Schneiderlin and Perrin made the reserve list. Perrin has been the best defender in Ligue 1 this season i must admit... better than Silva in terms of being consistent every single game. Silva had motivation issues at times.

Here's the reserve list btw:

La liste des 7 réservistes : Rémy Cabella (Montpellier), Maxime Gonalons (Lyon), Alexandre Lacazette (Lyon), Loïc Perrin (Saint-Étienne), Stéphane Ruffier (Saint-Étienne), Morgan Schneiderlin (Southampton/ANG), Benoît Trémoulinas (Saint-Étienne).

nasri ffs

As far as Nasri... he had an issue in 2010 that kept him off the team, then he blew up in the 2012 Euro again. When he was benched for the 2nd leg against Ukraine in the playoffs, he threw a hissy fit. That ended for Deschamps. Just not a good guy to have unless he's going to start.

Also, keep in mind that France play a 433, not a 4231. Griezmann/RIbery are the two guys on the left. So where does Nasri play? On the right? He's a disaster there because he never stays in his zone lol... you end up have the right side of your attack vacant. In terms of profile, he didn't fit either.

The job of the coach is not to pick the best 23 players... it's about building the best team. It's a difference. Some guys have better profiles for being starters and are horrible subs... such is the case of Nasri.

I don't even know why there's such a fuss over Nasri, he's not even that good for City he's carried by Silva.

He won't translate it without him and he's always crap for France anyway.

Yeah... thing is, Nasri is only good when his team dominates play and he can tiki taka. France NT are a counter-attack team and the attacking players are all very direct. He takes AGES on the ball and is very poor at moving the ball quickly. Really doesn't fit at all.

Anyhow, he's done. Will never play for NT again so he's irrelevant now.

sportsczy wrote:There are going to be 6 midfielders.  To me, 5 of them are set:  Pogba, Cabaye, Matuidi, Sissoko (unfortunately) and Grenier.  The last spot is a fight between Mavuba, Guilavogui and Schneiderlin.  Also, there may be another spot if Grenier is not healthy.  To me, it has to be Mavuba and Schneiderlin.  But DD does strange things at times.

On the attack, the starting trio is Benz, Ribery and Valbuena.  Griezmann and Lacazette have both been told they'd get called.  Giroud and Remy are fighting it out for the last spot with Giroud having the lead.  That's the 6 there.

On defense, the starters are Debuchy, Varane, Koscielny and Evra.  Sagna, Sakho and Digne are guranteed too.  The only question is the last CB spot between Mangala and Rami... i think Mangala has a pretty big lead there since DD has said he wants to bring kids that will be used in Euro 2016.  That's 8.

The three keepers are Lloris, Mandanda and Ruffier.

To me, these will be the 23.

Wow you were pretty close!

Too bad Gamiero didn't get called up. He scored 21 goals for Sevilla despite playing mostly as a sub... to have a guy like that who is used to scoring from the bench is huge. But i understand that Lacazette is the future.

Nearly every french striker had a great season in terms of Goals. Both Benzema and Giroud hit double figures. Remy, Lacazette and Gameiro all had great seasons as well but not enough space for all

yeah but most of the other guys did it as starters... Gameiro did it as a sub. To score 21 goals when you only started 27 games.... and Sevilla is not Barca or Madrid where you get 100 chances either. Gameiro scored 21 goals and 65 shots. That's insanely efficient.

To me, to have a guy like that would be great... you know he's used to coming off the bench and you know he can put it in the net coming from the bench.

Jonathan Johnson ‏@Jon_LeGossip 6m

Liverpool's Mamadou Sakho (ex-PSG) will captain France vs. Norway at Stade de France tomorrow night. #EDF #LesBleus #WC14 #LFC

Jonathan Johnson ‏@Jon_LeGossip 4m

Delighted for Sakho. He'll feel truly vindicated in deciding to leave PSG, while Parisien fans feel Déjà vu re: Marquinhos-Sakho parallels.


Who is France's full time captain? Evra? Lloris?

I think they'll get over it with Silva-Luiz.  I also felt that Alex was very good this year.  As far as Marquinhos... he may not leave in fact.  They're trying to convince to play RB for 2-3 years and then move back to CB later if he wants to.  He'd be the starting RB and looked great the last couple of game where he played at RB tbh...  he's only 20, so i don't see why not.

As far as Sakho, he's a team leader mostly off the pitch but came up big in the Ukraine game.  One of those guys you want to keep 100% involved even if he doesn't start.  He was the captain at PSG at the age of 17 remember... so his leadership skills are very known.

Lloris is the usual captain.  He's being rested tomorrow as Ruffier is starting.

It seems Benzema is in pain. has been for a long time now. i hope he recovers for world cup.

What a goal by G-Ruuuuu

Australian music

I think France should be favourites if the guys like Ribery, Benzema, Valbeuna/Griezmann etc do their job and score decisive goals in key games.

The team is beyond awesome. This is a golden French Generation. It needs 2-3 Brilliant Players to really make the difference

Footyfan wrote:I think France should be favourites if the guys like Ribery, Benzema, Valbeuna/Griezmann etc do their job and score decisive goals in key games.

The team is beyond awesome. This is a golden French Generation. It needs 2-3 Brilliant Players to really make the difference

I’m not sure you could call them favorites, when the same squad squeaked by Ukraine just to qualify. Now, I do think they have a favorable group and knockout stage draw. Should they overcome Ecuador, Switzerland, and Honduras, they will likely face one of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Nigeria, and Iran. While they certainly aren’t pushovers (no nation that has made the World Cup finals should be totally counted out), they don’t represent the strongest opposition.

The biggest weakness in the squad is that it lacks a proven creative influence outside of the starting XI. Assuming starters of Benzema, Ribery, and Valbuena/Griezmann and Cabaye, Matuidi, and Pogba, then you see a clear drop-off to the second-string in terms of creativity. Who’s going to step up from the bench? Will Grenier, the 23 year-old from Ligue Un be able to come on and dictate a game? Let’s just say I have my reservations…

I’m quietly hopeful that this team could surprise people, as I don’t think their qualifying campaign was representative of their true potential. They still seem to be in a transitional state, just bringing through the bulk of the next generation of French nationals (Pogba, Varane, Griezmann, Sakho, Mangala, Digne, etc.) and shuffling the squad from the debacle of South Africa. Blanc did a good job of reigning in player-power, but I get the sense that Deschamps is still figuring out how to get the best from his squad. (Excluding Nasri, a player whose creativity they could’ve used, was a big part of this.) I’d love to see them go deep into the tournament, but my realistic expectation is a quarterfinal exit (likely against Germany).

The WC qualifying for France was pretty much according to plan.  The first place team of the group qualifies and the the best 2nd place teams go to the playoffs.   Spain was in the group.  They managed to get a 1-1 draw in Spain (first time Spain hadn't won an official game at hom in 6 years or something like that) and barely lost 1-0 in France.  

2nd place and a playoff was a 99% certainty.  The only real hickup was the first Ukraine game where they just played poorly...  But then again, Ukraine hadn't lost at home, official or friendly, since Euro 2012.  So it wasn't that amazing.  They let loose in the 2nd leg and destroyed Ukraine.  

For France, the talent is fantastic and even the creative depth looks better than expected with Griezmann and Grenier there.  It all comes down to playing without holding back... when the pressure is on, the NT tends to play too conservative.  They need to come and just go at the teams because they are far superior to all of them as long as they play to win as opposed to avoiding a loss.

Reports Ribery may be out of the World Cup.

Gil wrote:Reports Ribery may be out of the World Cup.

blessing in disguise. he is worse than Benzema for NT

Valkyrja wrote:

Gil wrote:Reports Ribery may be out of the World Cup.

blessing in disguise. he is worse than Benzema for NT

Aren't you taking it too far? I am no fan of his but have to put up some hard facts. In that dismal Euro 2012 performance wasn't he their best player? If he was playing the way he played in 2013 wouldn't he perform brilliantly no matter which team he played for? Unfortunately he is aging, has been injured too often and has lost form due to which Bayern also suffered at the end of the season. In a competition as huge as a world cup you need to bring a good amount of experienced talent and who does France have right now who is better than Ribery on this combination?

Reports are wrong. Friendly right now for France (boring since everyone is more worried about avoiding injury )... Ribery is on the bench and will be on the squad. The reporter quoted Ribery as saying that he would play despite the pain if this was the WC.

He's been carrying this back problem since the surgery apparently. A nerve was hit in the procedure and it hasn't gone away. I think it will require more surgery after the WC.

GRIEZMANN GOLAZO

Clement Grenier out of WC... Cabella likely as the replacement with also the possibility of Schneiderlin.

Grenier injured as i mentioned... But BOTH Cabella and Schneiderlin are recalled. I think Ribery is forfeit for the WC too unfortunately.

sportsczy wrote:Grenier injured as i mentioned... But BOTH Cabella and Schneiderlin are recalled. I think Ribery is forfeit for the WC too unfortunately.

Damn Ribery is going to miss the World Cup?!