FRIENDLIES [R] France-Nigeria 2/6 and France-Turkey 5/6

[vancity eagle]

Don't know if you guys are aware but we are playing the French team in a warmup for WC qualifiers a few days later. Maybe you are not excited at all but I am. Nigeria will not have played a team of this quality for a while and it will be a real test of where we are as a national team. We are playing Ireland a few days before the France game, many players will still be involved in leagues and will miss the Ireland game but we should have close to a full squad against France. Very excited, anybody know if someone will be showing the game.

[vancity eagle]

here is our squad

Squad
Goalkeepers: Vincent Enyeama (Hapoel Tel Aviv, Israel), Austin Ejide (Bastia, France), Dele Aiyenugba (Bnei Yehuda, Israel)
Defenders: Joseph Yobo (Everton, England), Danny Shittu (Bolton, England), Obinna Nwaneri (FC Sion, Switzerland), Taye Taiwo (Olympique Marseille, France), Chidi Odia (CSKA Moscow, Russia), Elderson Echiejele (Rennes, France), Dele Adeleye (Sparta Rotterdam, Holland), Olubayo Adefemi (SC Rheindorf Altach, Austria), Chibuzor Okonkwo (Bayelsa United)
Midfielders: John Mikel Obi (Chelsea, England), Sani Kaita (FC Kuban, Russia), Seyi Olofinjana (Stoke City, England), Kalu Uche (Almeria, Spain), Yusuf Ayila(Dinamo Kiev, Ukraine), Ebenezer Ajilore (FC Groningen, Holland); Dickson Etuhu (Fulham, England)
Forwards: Nwankwo Kanu (Portsmouth, England), Obafemi Martins (Newcastle, England), Osaze Odemwingie (FC Moscow, Russia), Obinna Nsofor (Inter Milan, Italy), Ikechukwu Uche (Getafe, Spain), Chinedu Obasi (Hoffenheim/Germy), Joseph Akpala (Club Brugges/Belgium)

[N. Platini]

Apparently we're going to have a speciale jersey for this match .

[AfrcnHrbMan]

M. Domenech will be presenting us with the list of players next monday. This game is going to be held in the stade Geoffroy-Guichard in Saint-Etienne. That's all i know for now.

[AfrcnHrbMan]

révèlera notamment le maillot spécial que les Bleus porteront lors de la rencontre France-Nigeria, la Fédération des aveugles de France s'étant associée à la FFF pour le bicentenaire de la naissance de Louis Braille
-Forum Marseillais

Non french folk, the special jersey is to commerate the 200th birthday of Louis Braille, in a collaboration of the French Federation of the blind and the French Football Federation.

[guignol]

not aware vancity eagle? we're double plus eager here for the match, a lot of my colleagues from sainté have tix and i envy them: i'd rather see nigeria though france-turkey on the 5th will be almost as good.

the most important is that the chaudron and gerland will have another kind of derby on: which will put the fickle stade de france crowd to the greatest shame. we've been hungry like wolves to see les bleus in lyon, and the VN will be rockin' i guarantee!

[N. Platini]

Too bad it's only because these are friendlies .

I'd die for the NT to play a qualification game away from SdF . Last time we were in Saint-Etienne was vs China , the support for that game was amazing .

[guignol]

ithmuch thnks to vancity eagle i'm going to rename this thread to include both upcoming friendlies; there won't be enough traffic to make the conversation unwieldy, and will make for a nice tricontinental exchange!

[StarrMatthieu]

menez is getting called up with this goal





YouTube - ac milan 2 - 3 as roma (menez 1 - 2)

[Suyuntuy]

I'd like to see some practice games played as visitors too. It's different when you really have the public against you.

[guignol]

especially since these are easier to fit in for the players than in mid-season, but the advantage of having two matches in 4 days is also worth considering.

[Suyuntuy]

La liste:

Gardiens de But

Cédric CARRASSO F.C. Toulouse
Hugo LLORIS Olympique Lyonnais
Stève MANDANDA Olympique de Marseille

Défenseurs

Eric ABIDAL F.C. Barcelone
Jean-Alain BOUMSONG Olympique Lyonnais
Julien ESCUDE F.C. Seville
Patrice EVRA Manchester United
Rod FANNI Stade Rennais F.C.
Philippe MEXES A.S. Rome
Bakary SAGNA Arsenal F.C.
Sébastien SQUILLACI F.C. Séville

Milieux de terrain

Abou DIABY Arsenal F.C.
Alou DIARRA Girondins de Bordeaux
Lassana DIARRA Real Madrid
Yoann GOURCUFF Girondins de Bordeaux
Florent MALOUDA Chelsea F.C.
Jérémy TOULALAN Olympique Lyonnais
Patrick VIEIRA Inter de Milan

Attaquants

Nicolas ANELKA Chelsea F.C.
Karim BENZEMA Olympique Lyonnais
André-Pierre GIGNAC Toulouse F.C.
Sidney GOVOU Olympique Lyonnais
Thierry HENRY F.C. Barcelone
Loïc REMY OGC Nice
Franck RIBERY Bayern Munich

[Suyuntuy]

Happy to see Gignac there, and let's hope Rémy has some playtime. Diaby has impressed me the few times I've seen him play of late, and I'd give him the start in place of Toulalan actually. Lass was, IMO, the best player for Real in the Champions League, and testing Fanny as a natural sub for Sagna is something I want to see.

What worries me: Frey seems to be out of the race for keeper. Not good, he could be our best. With Nasri and Ben Arfa injured (although I'm not sure in the case of Ben Arfa), why not call Mounier?

[lefutur]

Hopefully France will be able to create some attacking football with this callup selection. I'm not sure if Vieira is going to be at his best but at least he has the ability to go forward with the ball from midfield which is something that has been sorely lacking in this team for some time. I'd almost like to see Toulalan benched in favor of a Vieira-L. Diarra partnership since France needs to work on this element of their game the most right now. Although Toulalan is a good récupérateur and usually sees a lot of the ball its been at the expense of being able to quickly get the ball forward to the attackers. France need to be less obsessed with holding onto possession and learn to do more with the ball when they do have it.

I'd also like to see Gignac as the man up top because neither Henry nor Benzema are completely comfortable playing that position for France. Henry seems to be better suited on the wing these days but Ribery excells at that position so Henry can come in in the second half.


1st half

--------------Lloris--------------
Sagna---Mexes--Boumsong--Evra
---------Vieira----L. Diarra--------
Govou--------Gourcuff----Ribery
-------------Gignac---------------


second half

------------Mandanda----------
Fanni---Mexes--Squillaci--Abidal
---------Diaby----L. Diarra--------
Ribery--------Gourcuff----Henry
-------------Benzema---------------

[tadm123]

Happy to see Gignac there, and let's hope Rémy has some playtime. Diaby has impressed me the few times I've seen him play of late, and I'd give him the start in place of Toulalan actually. Lass was, IMO, the best player for Real in the Champions League, and testing Fanny as a natural sub for Sagna is something I want to see.

What worries me: Frey seems to be out of the race for keeper. Not good, he could be our best. With Nasri and Ben Arfa injured (although I'm not sure in the case of Ben Arfa), why not call Mounier?
does Dominech has some kind of beef with Frey? it seems outrageous to me that he doesn´t even gets a call :rolleyes:

[N. Platini]

La liste:

Gardiens de But

Cédric CARRASSO F.C. Toulouse
Hugo LLORIS Olympique Lyonnais
Stève MANDANDA Olympique de Marseille

Défenseurs

Eric ABIDAL F.C. Barcelone
Jean-Alain BOUMSONG Olympique Lyonnais
Julien ESCUDE F.C. Seville
Patrice EVRA Manchester United
Rod FANNI Stade Rennais F.C.
Philippe MEXES A.S. Rome
Bakary SAGNA Arsenal F.C.
Sébastien SQUILLACI F.C. Séville

Milieux de terrain

Abou DIABY Arsenal F.C.
Alou DIARRA Girondins de Bordeaux
Lassana DIARRA Real Madrid
Yoann GOURCUFF Girondins de Bordeaux
Florent MALOUDA Chelsea F.C.
Jérémy TOULALAN Olympique Lyonnais
Patrick VIEIRA Inter de Milan

Attaquants

Nicolas ANELKA Chelsea F.C.
Karim BENZEMA Olympique Lyonnais
André-Pierre GIGNAC Toulouse F.C.
Sidney GOVOU Olympique Lyonnais
Thierry HENRY F.C. Barcelone
Loïc REMY OGC Nice
Franck RIBERY Bayern Munich

As usual Domenech's lists are always bullcrap !

Govou ? Are you freaking kidding me ?! He's been injured all season WTF !!!

Same goes for Vieira , how they deserve a call-up I don't know .

Then there's Boumsong LOL , if he's France international quality then we suck .

Lloris , no much how obvious it is that he's better than Mandanda , he'll not get first pick .

Malouda deserves a call but not Rothen ? :mad: No Valbuena ? :mad:

[zizouForlife]

viera but no flamini????? this man puzzles me

still no trez, or frey

[vancity eagle]

strong squad, especially the attack. Honestly I hope you guys and Ireland destroy us, because we have a clueless coach who is F' ing up our WC campaign, and if getting thrashed helps get him fired, all the better.

[AfrcnHrbMan]

La liste:

Gardiens de But:
Those are currently France's 3 best keepers if you leave Frey out of the equation. Which is exactly what I plan on doing, because he put himself in this situtation. Like I've said everytime Lloris has been called up, he should be number 1. Hopefully getting in Ligue 1 first XI of the season might see him get the nod

Défenseurs
I haven't been keep up with Squillaci and Escude so I don't know if they warrant their call ups. Abidal has been much improved in the latter part of the season, but I still don't think he's really regained that form he should with OL. Maybe it was just playing with Malouda that helped him shine, though Iniesta and Henry are no slouches themselves. He looked kinda shaky against Chelsea though, so I think think this would be opertune time to see more of Rod Fanni. I'm pleased he got another call up. Everybody else is pretty much a given at this point, due to the absence of Gallas.

Milieux de terrain
Abou Diaby does not deserve to be on the Full French national team. He's not even close. It's mindboggling how he keeps getting these call ups. And since Nasri is injured he is the only CAM option after Gourcuff. Unacceptable. I would have called up Benoit Cheyrou instead and given him a chance.
Florent has shown a resurgence under the leadership of Guss Hindink so I can't really begrugde him a call up...I guess. If anyone has ever gotten a call up on name only it would have to be M. Vieira. I don't think Pat has done anything in the last two years that merits a showing in blue. He's officially done at the highest level of football. what is the point of dragging him on to the pitch for us?! Don't really have a problem with anyone else.


Attaquants
What a stable of attackers, if only they could all play at the same time. Golden boot winners Anelka and Gignac are give ins. As is M. Henry who has regained his brillance this year. Benzema is now in a position where he will get a call up regardless of form, but thankfully he has regained his as of late. Remy is a cool call, I think he deserves it. He's been doing good work for Nice, real good work. Franck is Franck, nothing to say on that. Which brings me to Govou. I'm sure everyone knows I'm a Govou apologist, (maybe reaching the heights of Guignol himself in that matter :p), but I am very surprised he got in. He's only been back for 3 matches. Though he has looked better and better with every match, and really seems to have a spark in his game. I figure Domenech see he's him intergral to his plans or he would have stayed home.

[AfrcnHrbMan]

does Dominech has some kind of beef with Frey? it seems outrageous to me that he doesn´t even gets a call :rolleyes:

Frey doesn't get a call up because he is an idiot who stuck his foot in his mouth. Go on and blame Ray if you want, but anyone who's worked a day in their lives knows that if your boss is a lunatic, you don't go out of your way to piss him off. Like it or not he is still the boss and can fire your ass in a second. Then he has the gall to go to the press and wonder why he's not getting call ups after he pouted and retired from the national team!! I'm not losing any sleep over this guy and neither should any other supporter of les bleus. Let Fiorentina fans cry about it, SUPER LLORIS will lead us to victory :D



viera but no flamini????? this man puzzles me

still no trez, or frey

on Frey the above says enough. Flamini..I don't know about. Is he playing enough (or well enough for that matter) for Milan to get a callup? He doesn't have the pedigree of Vieira to get in on name alone. I imagine he has to really be lighting up the midfield for AC to ever get a call up again. And David Trezeguet. I don't know what else to say about that. Maybe if he comes to Lyon and scores 30 goals next season, he'll get to go to the world cup. Now that I think about it, signing for OL this summer might be in his best interest if he ever wants to feel the inside of a blue shirt again lol.