First French Team Under Domenech

Drag00n79

With all the international retirements, it's interesting to see what Domenech does in their friendly versus Bosnia on Wednesday evening.

France opt for youth over experience against Bosnia
RENNES, France, Aug 17 (Reuters) - Coach Raymond Domenech has named an experimental team for France's friendly against Bosnia on Wednesday, their first since inspirational playmaker Zinedine Zidane ended his international career.
Domenech picked no less than four uncapped players, Monaco defenders Sebastien Squillaci and Patrice Evra, Olympique Lyon sweeper Eric Abidal and Girondins Bordeaux's Rio Mavuba.
They will play alongside Paris St Germain's Bernard Mendy, who has one cap, Marseille striker Peguy Luyindula, who has two, and PSG midfielder Jerome Rothen, with five.
Midfielder Benoit Pedretti and libero William Gallas have 15 and 20 caps respectively.
The most experienced players in the starting line-up are 33-year-old Marseille goalkeeper Fabien Barthez, who will captain the team, and Arsenal goal scorer Thierry Henry.
Since he took over from Jacques Santini in July, Domenech has made it clear he had little choice but to bank on youth to cope with the retirement of several key players like defenders Bixente Lizarazu and Lilian Thuram and captain Marcel Desailly.
It will be France's first match since their 1-0 defeat by Greece in the quarter-finals of the European championship in Portugal in June.
The 32-year-old Zidane decided last week to retire from the international game, saying it was time for him to leave his place to young players.
Team: Fabien Barthez; Bernard Mendy, William Gallas, Sebastien Squillaci, Patrice Evra; Eric Abidal, Rio Mavuba, Benoit Pedretti, Jerome Rothen; Thierry Henry, Peguy Luyindula.
Source: http://football.guardian.co.uk/breakingnews/feedstory/0,14546,-4428949,00.html

Big Ears

I predicted France would be caught in transition (which many others predicted too) and now im sure they will be .

They probably would have been better playing for expierienced French players who are just not as good quality as what has retired , and bring in the youngsters slowly .(so the expierienced players would get them through the group and the youngsters would be ready for Germany when it comes round .)

I think France will be poor up front , bad in midfield and dreadful at the back .
I can't wait for Ireland to hammer them on they're own soil on our way to an unbeaten qualifying record .

Our toughest game will be Israel away .(don't expect that to be easy though)

eirebhoy

Shamrok wrote:

Team: Fabien Barthez; Bernard Mendy, William Gallas, Sebastien Squillaci, Patrice Evra; Eric Abidal, Rio Mavuba, Benoit Pedretti, Jerome Rothen; Thierry Henry, Peguy Luyindula.[/url]

I never don't know a lot about half those players but I won't be getting carried away, I'm sure the French don't know much about most of our players.

No Silvestre, Saha, Trezeguet, Makelele, Sagnol, Giuly... This is the last friendly before the qualifiers, I don't know why they weren't called up.

Big Ears

most of the players play in France , and I think Domenech is the type of manager to choose home gorwn players over other ones , hence he's picking players like Luyindula over Saha(which is crazy) .

Israel may never get a better chance to qualify for the World Cup .
God knows they may be unbeatable at home .

irishgeo

Big Ears wrote:

most of the players play in France , and I think Domenech is the type of manager to choose home gorwn players over other ones , hence he's picking players like Luyindula over Saha(which is crazy) .

Israel may never get a better chance to qualify for the World Cup .
God knows they may be unbeatable at home .

Saha is injuried and why the hell didnt he pick Cisse.

Big Ears

irishgeo wrote:

Saha is injuried and why the hell didnt he pick Cisse.

em yes..............of course I meant Cisse ..................

Big Ears

eirebhoy wrote:

.
No Silvestre, Saha, Trezeguet, Makelele, Sagnol, Giuly... This is the last friendly before the qualifiers, I don't know why they weren't called up.

its a conspiracy I tells ya , it aint no coincidence all those players play in Europe :eek: .

Drag00n79

By the way, if you have Sky Digital you can view the French qualifiying matches live on TV5. The home match versus Israel kicks off at 7.45 on Sept 4th and they have it. They might only have the home games but Eurosport tend to show France live a lot too. Be nice to keep an eye on things.

I know, it's slightly off the point but I didn't want to start a new thread for this. Too many threads with little stories at the moment, I think.

eirebhoy

I don't know why he didn't pick Cisse for tonights game but at least he got called up. The players I mentioned didn't even make the squad.

Cheers for that info Shamrok although I can't see myself watching it unless they show it in the pub which I doubt.