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France Euro 2008 Squad

France, European Championship winners in 2000, lost twice to lowly Scotland in qualifying Group B, yet advanced after finishing runners-up to World Cup winners Italy. The French ended with 26 points to Italy’s 29, but had a more impressive goal difference — they hit 25 goals in 12 qualifiers and conceded only five.

France kicked off their campaign on September 2, 2006 with a 3-0 win over Georgia in Tbilisi. Raymond Domenech’s team then followed that up four days later with a morale-boosting victory over recently crowned World Champions Italy. At the Stade de France in Paris, a brace from Sidney Govou and a Thierry Henry strike cancelled out Alberto Gilardino’s goal. The 3-1 win went some way to avenging France’s defeat to Italy in the final of Germany 2006, when favourite son Zinédine Zidane was dismissed for head-butting defender Marco Materazzi and they lost 5-3 on penalties. France then stumbled away to Scotland on October 7, losing 1-0 thanks to Gary Caudwell’s goal with 23 minutes remaining.

Domenech’s side achieved wins against Faroe Islands (5-0), Lithuania (1-0), Ukraine (2-0) and Georgia (1-0) again, before drawing against Italy in Rome. Then, in September 2007, Scotland did the double over France with a shock 1-0 win in the Stade de France thanks to James McFadden’s 64th minute screamer. France completed qualifying with victories over Faroe Islands (6-0) and Lithuania (2-0), and a 2-2 draw away to Ukraine.

Defender Lilian Thuram, the oldest player in Domenech’s squad at 36, was the only man to play all 1,080 minutes in qualifying. Thuram’s Barcelona team-mate Henry was France’s leading scorer — he netted six times in eight appearances. Domenech used 31 players in all, including a number of youngsters. Attacking midfielder Samir Nasri, 21, and 20-year-old Karim Benzema, announced their international arrivals with impressive performances and goals in Euro 2008 qualifying.

The French last won the European Championship in 2000 when David Trezeguet’s golden goal earned them a 2-1 victory and the trophy. The only other time Les Bleus have won the European Championship was in 1984 when, inspired by tournament top-scorer Michel Platini (nine goals), they defeated Spain 2-0 in the final at the Parc des Princes.

France Euro 2008 Squad

Head coach: Raymond Domenech

No. Pos. Player DoB (Age) Caps Goals Club 1 GK Steve Mandanda 28 March 1985 (22) 0 0 Marseille 2 DF Jean-Alain Boumsong 28 December 1979 (28) 22 1 Lyon 3 DF Éric Abidal 11 July 1979 (28) 32 0 Barcelona 4 MF Patrick Vieira 23 June 1976 (31) 105 6 Internazionale 5 DF William Gallas 17 August 1977 (30) 60 2 Arsenal 6 MF Claude Makélélé 18 February 1973 (35) 65 0 Chelsea 7 MF Florent Malouda 13 June 1980 (27) 35 3 Chelsea 8 FW Nicolas Anelka 14 March 1979 (29) 44 11 Chelsea 9 FW Karim Benzema 19 December 1987 (20) 9 3 Lyon 10 FW Sidney Govou 27 July 1979 (28) 30 7 Lyon 11 MF Samir Nasri 20 June 1987 (20) 7 2 Marseille 12 FW Thierry Henry 17 August 1977 (30) 98 44 Barcelona 13 DF Patrice Evra 15 May 1981 (27) 9 0 Manchester United 14 DF François Clerc 18 April 1983 (25) 9 0 Lyon 15 DF Lilian Thuram 1 January 1972 (35) 138 2 Barcelona 16 GK Sébastien Frey 18 March 1980 (28) 1 0 Fiorentina 17 DF Sébastien Squillaci 11 August 1980 (27) 12 0 Lyon 18 FW Bafétimbi Gomis 8 June 1985 (22) 1 2 Saint-Étienne 19 DF Willy Sagnol 18 March 1977 (31) 54 0 Bayern Munich 20 MF Jérémy Toulalan 10 September 1983 (24) 10 0 Lyon 21 MF Lassana Diarra 10 March 1985 (23) 10 0 Portsmouth 22 MF Franck Ribéry 1 April 1983 (24) 24 2 Bayern Munich 23 GK Grégory Coupet 31 December 1972 (35) 28 0 Lyon

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Topics: European Championships, France