Huh? Hamraoui is NOT on the roster, right? She's not listed. I don't follow the French league or NT, but I have seen Hamraoui play quite a bit for Barcelona, and she is very good. I'm surprised she's not been picked.
I think Hamraoui is the linchpin of the Barcelona team, and she scored the only (winning) goal in the first leg of Champions League semifinal against Bayern. So it's odd she wouldn't make the French NT squad. I wonder if she got word that she wasn't going to be picked before the second match against Bayern, which might explain why she was in a noticeably churlish mood from the beginning and ended up getting red-carded. It's been a bad few days for her.
Hamraoui was called up once by Diacre in the last two seasons. It is one of those very debatable choice considering she has a very athletic profile unlike all our midfielders. But she is silly and gets yellow cards quite often unfortunately.
Yes, poor u-20 tourney, not at her best since being called up. I still think not taking someone who has scored 40+ league goals in two seasons is a big gamble.
Quotes from the press conference : "The FFF president has set a target of reaching the final" So unless a miracle happen, she will get the sack... On the alternates in case of injury, she has submitted the full 50 players list according to the FIFA regulations, so she has 27 alternates available to choose from. Hamraoui : " I know her player profile, she has been an internaional player fora while. I simply chose Clemaron instead of her to balance the squad"
The France team will go into camp on the 8th of May. The FFF has actually published the whole program day by day. Mercredi 8 mai 15h00 : arrivée à Perros-Guirec 17h30 : entraînement Jeudi 9 mai 10h00 : entraînement ouvert au public (sur invitation uniquement) 17h30 : activité Vendredi 10 mai 10h00 : entraînement ouvert au public (sur invitation uniquement) 16h00 : activité Samedi 11 mai 10h00 : entraînement Départ de Perros-Guirec dans l'après-midi Dimanche 12 mai Journée libre Lundi 13 mai 13h00 : arrivée à Clairefontaine 15h30 : tests physiques Mardi 14 mai 7h00 : entraînement 10h30 : entraînement 17h00 : entraînement Mercredi 15 mai 10h00 : entraînement ouvert au public 17h00 : activité Jeudi 16 mai 7h00 : entraînement 10h30 : entraînement 17h00 : entraînement Vendredi 17 mai 10h00 : entraînement 17h00 : entraînement Samedi 18 mai 10h00 : entraînement Départ de Clairefontaine dans l'après-midi Dimanche 19 mai Journée libre Lundi 20 mai Journée libre Mardi 21 mai 14h00 : arrivée à Clairefontaine 15h00 : tests physiques 17h00 : entraînement ouvert au public Mercredi 22 mai 9h00 : photo officielle 10h00 : entraînement 17h00 : entraînement Jeudi 23 mai 10h00 : entraînement 17h00 : entraînement Vendredi 24 mai 17h00 : entraînement Samedi 25 mai 9h45 : départ vers Orléans 11h30 : balade 16h00 : FRANCE - THAÏLANDE à Orléans (Stade de la Source) Dislocation après le match Dimanche 26 mai Journée libre Lundi 27 mai 16h30 : arrivée à Clairefontaine 18h00 : entraînement ouvert au public Mardi 28 mai 10h00 : entraînement 16h30 : entraînement Mercredi 29 mai 10h00 : entraînement 16h00 : entraînement Jeudi 30 mai 17h00 : entraînement Vendredi 31 mai 10h00 : départ vers Créteil 17h00 : balade 21h00 : FRANCE - CHINE à Créteil (Stade Dominique Duvauchelle) 23h00 : retour à Clairefontaine Samedi 1er juin 15h30 : entraînement Soirée libre Dimanche 2 juin 18h00 : arrivée des joueuses à Clairefontaine Lundi 3 juin 10h00 : entraînement ouvert au public (sur invitation) Mardi 4 juin 16h30 : entraînement Mercredi 5 juin 10h30 : entraînement Installation à Paris dans l'après-midi Jeudi 6 juin 11h00 : familiarisation au Parc des Princes 11h30 : conférence de presse au Parc des Princes 16h30 : entraînement à Croissy Vendredi 7 juin 10h00 : réveil musculaire 21h00 : FRANCE - COREE DU SUD à Paris (Parc des Princes) Samedi 8 juin Départ pour Nice dans l'après-midi 17h00 : entraînement à Mandelieu Dimanche 9 juin 10h00 : entraînement à Mandelieu ouvert au public (sur invitation) Lundi 10 juin 16h30 : entraînement à Mandelieu Mardi 11 juin 11h00 : conférence de presse au Stade de Nice 16h30 : entraînement à Mandelieu Mercredi 12 juin 10h00 : réveil musculaire 21h00 : FRANCE - NORVEGE à Nice (Allianz Riviera) Jeudi 13 juin Départ pour Rennes dans l'après-midi 17h00 : entraînement à Cesson-Sévigné Vendredi 14 juin 10h00 : entraînement à Cesson-Sévigné ouvert au public Samedi 15 juin 16h30 : entraînement à Cesson-Sévigné Dimanche 16 juin 11h00 : conférence de presse au Roazhon Park de Rennes 16h30 : entraînement au Roazhon Park à Rennes Lundi 17 juin 21h00 : NIGERIA - FRANCE à Rennes (Roazhon Park)
The biggest problem is our lack of depth. If I rate our squad out of 5 stars, here is what I have ( based, on experience, honors and potential) 2* Durand, Clemaron, Debever, Asseyi, Bilbault, Gauvin, Laurent 3* Peyraud-Magnin, Torrent, Karchaoui, Diani, Cascarino, Tounkara, Perisset, 4* Bouhaddi, Majri, M'Bock-Bathy, Bussaglia, Thiney, Geyoro, 5* Henry, Renard, Le Sommer The two stars players are not bad, just unproven at the highest level. We have a decent starting 11, then quality decreases.
I would diagree with the 3 stars players; this year Diani & Cascarino have definitely outshown LeSommer(no slouch by any means). If the Deacon would only start duo together, then it would be the strongest front line in the world, I would even favor if over the US of Heath-Morgan-Rapinoe(my pick as 2nd best). Tounkara has proven she can step in for either of the starting CB's(she started in the last two games vs the US). There's very few that I can think of that are better than Karchaoui at left-back & can always move Majri to left mid(as Sakia is a way better defender) As starters, Torrent, Bouhaddi, Thiney(&/if, Bussaagila, are the weakest. But the Deacon could go to a 3-back, minusing at least two of those starters. I agree, probably not that deep, but to think that the Deacon prefers one-goal-a-season, Laurent over 22 goal scorer, Katoto is insane! and definitely could of used the physical prowess of Hamraoui in there
Bouhaddi's burden are her "obligatory" blunders that make her unreliable, even in big games. On the other hand, she's still able to make saves that few GKs in the women's game would be able to make (see the match vs Dijon from the 24th of April that gave the title to OL). If you could subtract from Bouhaddi's game her usual, irritating, amateurish mistakes, the rest of her game would actually be high level. But of course, these years have shown that it's impossible, so she can't actually be considered the top-level GK that she could have been.
The French have a ton of talent and could very well win the World Cup. This could be their moment. The team has a lot of quality up front and in the back; it's the midfield, other than Henry, that might be key to its fortunes.
I would pick her over the Geman's insistance on going with Schult(who looked misreable vs Japan & Lyon/though probably ENG, CA & US have better sets of GK's
here would be US vs France, player vs player, head to head competition, if these are the starters for both teams. The pointed arrow indicates who won GK....Naylor<Bouhaddi DF,,,,,Sonnett<Torrent....Dahlkemper>MBock....Brunn>Renard.....Dunn<Karchaoui MD.......Pugh>Henry...........Ertz<Thiney.............Horan<Majri FW......Heath=Cascarino........Morgan>Diani.........Rapinoe>ELS SUBS..............US<France Home AdV.........US>France COACH...........US=France thus I get a draw,so.............never mind! ........
I can't figure out how you're using the arrow since it's also the "greater than/lesser than" sign. It's also Naeher, not Naylor. New Zealsnd's GK is Naylor
In fact, I have to admit I only figured they were meant to be arrows when I have read: Home AdV.........US>France Since it couldn't possibly mean that US had home advantage, I had to re-read everything accordingly!
Yeah I saw that too! But then... oh OK. It's highly debatable that Morgan>Diani, meaning Diani is superior to Morgan. Also I'm totally unsure that "Naylor" (Naeher)< Bouhaddi, meaning the US had advantage at GK. I really don't think that's the case. At best I think the US GKs are about equal to Bouhaddi, capable of world-class saves but also capable of bad judgment
The decision to omit Katoto, the league's leading scorer and "next big thing" in French women's football, seems insane to me. Can anyone elaborate on why this happened?
She had an awful U-20 WWC last Summer, when she allegedly dragged the team towards the bottom instead of lifting it up. There is a disagreement on the reasons for this as well we all know there are three sides to every story. Some blame her entourage, others just say, she did not manage the pressure very well being the team captain and expecting to lead the team to victory. Then when she was called up for the Senior squad, she was asked to put more effort in training by the manager. She did score as a sub against the USA, but it looks like she did not work hard enough. While her competitors like Cascarino and Asseyi , who were also warned to improve their performances by being dropped from squads, ended up rising up their performance level in the last six months, she did not do it in big games either in Champions League or against Lyon. So she was overtaken by Emelyne Laurent another U-20 graduate who went on loan in January from Lyon to Guingamp to gain playing time. The fact is Katoto finished topscorer in the League and has scored 40+ league goals in two seasons and it is certainly a big gamble not to take her to the tournament.
Morgan's done well for the USWNT, but that's cuz Ellis works her as a single/centralized striker & she's obviously backed up stong supporting cast. But look at the other team she plays on; the NWSL Pride; last year she was tied for 15th among league goal scorers(5 goals in over 1500 min.). So far this year; Morgan's scored zero goals in 4 games/360 minutes of playing time. Guess we could blame her Pride team somewhat, but it too has an powerful lineup; 3 USWNT's 3 Brazilians(including Marta), 2 starting Matildas(Kennedy & Van Egmond) In comparison, Diani had strong games vs the US & Japan so far this year, plus on PSG(where she was more of a winger) she leads the French league in assists sd well the 3rd leading goal scorer Naeher isn't flashy like Solo used to be, but safe. Compare that to Bouhaddi, one look at this video & you see what I mean(first goal). And believe me, it's not the first time she's gaffe'd like this
I agree with your assessment of Morgan's shortcomings in league play for her clubs. For purposes of comparing her with Diani or anyone else at the World Cup I only considered her play with the national team, where she's a proven star and, for whatever reason, she's always been much more successful playing for country rather than club. Nobody has had quite the memorable gaffes that Bouhaddi's had, but Naeher and Harris make their share of mistakes and I think, as far as net results go, they're about equal with Bouhaddi in their effects, both pro and con, for their teams.
the Decaon actually prefers a player named Gauvin as starting central/striker & Diani at right/winger, than switches Diani to center when she brings in Cascarino at right. Why she don't ant to start Cascarino(who's in my book is on par with Tobin Heath & Caro Hansen) is a good question. Got the feeling is that Cascarino is very injury prone. Gauvin though does remind of Morgan, a rather weakish performance at the club level(6 goals in 20 games for the stacked but under performing Montpelier club). i would than definitely prefer Morgan over Gauvin here is an AP article on why the Deacon didn't pick Katoto Diacre defends leaving Katoto out of France's WCup squad
Diacre at the usual press conference : "I have no doubt about my starting 11, but the more possibilities I have the better it will be. If one or two playaer can install a bit of doubt in my head, this would be great, it would be some good problems for me to solve. I have potentially 14 starters. " The starting 11 should be Bouhaddi Torrent Renard M'Bock Bathy Majri Henry, Bussaglia or Geyoro, Thiney Cascarino or Diani, Diani or Gauvin, Le Sommer The team also had a surprise doping control from the French autority the AFLD.
Probably our defense. Midfield is ok and attack is ok. As the coach mentioned she has 14 starters ie good players. Lack of depth as I have said before.
As seen in the recent WCL final also, I guess Renard/Mbock Bathy is probably the strongest CBs duo in the world. And Majri is a Full-Back who can actually join the attack and cross like a real winger. I know Torrent a little less, but the trio of OL players alone form an intimidating defensive unit already.