France 1-0 England – Not Good Enough
France 1-0 England
Wednesday 26 March 2008, Stade de France
Despite injuries to several influential players, France were the more assured side and won the game 1-0 without much trouble. The goal came courtesy of a Ribery penalty after Anelka had been felled by James in the box. England created little, and lost possession too easily.
Of course, I’m just quoting what I read last night and this morning, since they only showed Portugal-Greece on TV here (the idiots). Beckham got his 100th cap, Terry got injured, Owen got his cap, Downing got a chance as well. Other than that, hopefully Capello learned something from this tie that will help him improve England. I was depressed when I first heard the result, but without seeing England perform you can’t honestly give up on them, can you?
Better luck against the US (May) and the Czech (August), both to be played at Wembley.
Preview
England starting lineup:
James, Brown, Ferdinand (capt), Terry, A Cole, Beckham, Hargreaves, Barry, J Cole, Gerrard, Rooney.
No Frank Lampard – Sky say he’s down with a severe stomach problem.
France starting lineup:
Coupet Clerc, Gallas, Thuram, Abidal, Ribéry, Makelele, Toulalan, Malouda, Trezeguet, Anelka.
Will be interesting to see how Gallas / Thuram / Makelele deal with Cole, Gerrard and Rooney. I don’t think Terry / Ferdinand should have ‘too much trouble’ with Trez and Anelka. Of course, Brown playing behind Beckham will be interesting – can Malouda exploit the lack of pace of a centurion and the sometimes problematic positioning of Brown?
Rio Ferdinand will captain England in Paris on Wednesday evening, while Fabio Capello has confirmed that David Beckham will win his 100th cap in the friendly.
FA statement:
“Fabio Capello has confirmed that Rio Ferdinand will captain England against France in Paris. Capello has confirmed this continues his policy of rotating the captaincy between players in the friendly matches before confirming a permanent captain for the World Cup qualifying games.”
Can’t say I disagree with that – the rotation policy, that is. But will Ferdinand be a better England captain than Terry?
Capello:
“I couldn’t make him come all the way from the USA and not play him. Nobody knows what the future holds. The David Beckham I know can get to 2010 if he works and trains hard. If he carries on training and working hard as he is, he can easily last.
France take on England in a much-anticipated friendly in Paris next Wednesday – the game may be just a friendly but it is also England’s first real test under Capello and it will be interesting to see how Don Fabio shapes his side to take on a team who, hate them or love them, qualified for Euro 2008.
Jermaine Jenas, Gabriel Agbonlahor, Ashley Young, Shaun Wright-Phillips, David Wheater and Jermain Defoe were dropped from the initial 30-man squad, while Scott Carson and Matthew Upson are out injured. Paul Robinson comes in to replace Carson.
Both Capello and Domenech have called up some new names in their squads for the international break with Theo Walcott, and David Beckham coming in for England. Notable absentees for England include Michael Carrick, Aaron Lennon (not part of the U-21 either), Ben Foster and Robert Green. Micah Richards and Ledley King miss out through injury, as do Carson and Upson.
The absence of Young, Agbonlahor and Defoe will raise a few questions, especially when all 3 players offer England a dimension their game has lacked in recent years – pace and fluid movement off the ball.
Florent Sinama-Pongolle, Mathieu Bodmer, Mathieu Valbuena, Mathieu Delpierre and Adil Rami are the new faces for the 39-strong squad for the March 25 and 26 games at Stade Charlety (Mali, A team) and the Stade de France respectively.
Willy Sagnol and David Trezeguet are the notable omissions (fitness and personality clash, respectively), while Louis Saha misses out after he picked up a new injury against Bolton on Wednesday.
Fabio Capello:
“Next week Stuart (Pearce, England U-21 manager) has a friendly match so it is a good opportunity for us to consider some of the younger players for the senior squad.”
Cap’s not happy about the Sunday matches either, which deprive him of an extra day of training with several of his first-choice England players.
“This is a friendly – having said that I’m not ecstatic, not happy about it. Some of the players I will not be able to train as I would like to.”
Raymond Domenech:
“We must try to see some options for the future.
Some players in certain positions will call a halt to their careers quicker than others, so we mustn’t find ourselves in a situation where one generation leaves and we are left having to urgently find replacements for them.
We want to see where they are, what they’re capable of doing at the highest level.”
France will use this set of friendlies to finetune their squad for Euro 2008 while England will be hoping to to give players as much exposure to quality competitive football as possible in order to prepare them for their 2010 World Cup Qualifying campaign.
However, regardless of what both coaches might say about the future, this is a game both managers would be going flat out to win. No predictions on this yet, but hopefully England can turn in an improved performance from last time around.
England Squad
Goalkeepers: David James (Portsmouth), Paul Robinson (Tottenham Hotspur), Chris Kirkland (Wigan Athletic)
Defenders: Wayne Bridge (Chelsea), Wes Brown (Manchester United), Ashley Cole (Chelsea), Rio Ferdinand (Manchester United), Glen Johnson (Portsmouth), Joleon Lescott (Everton), John Terry (Chelsea), Jonathan Woodgate (Tottenham Hotspur)
Midfielders: Steven Gerrard (Liverpool), Gareth Barry (AstonVilla), Owen Hargreaves (Manchester United), Joe Cole (Chelsea), David Bentley (Blackburn Rovers), Frank Lampard (Chelsea), David Beckham (LA Galaxy), Stewart Downing (Middlesbrough)
Forwards: Michael Owen (Newcastle United), Wayne Rooney, (Manchester United), Peter Crouch (Liverpool), Theo Walcott (Arsenal)
Expected Lineup: James, Brown, Ferdinand, Terry, A. Cole, Bentley, Gerrard, Hargreaves, Lampard, Cole, Rooney
Subs: Kirkland, Lescott, Woodgate, Beckham, Barry, Owen, Walcott
France Squad
Goalkeepers: Gregory Coupet (Lyon), Mickael Landreau (PSG), Hugo Lloris (Nice), Steve Mandanda (Marseille)
Defenders: Eric Abidal (Barcelona), Jean-Alain Boumsong (Lyon), Gael Clichy (Arsenal), Francois Clerc (Lyon), Mathieu Delpierre (Stuttgart), Julien Escude (Seville), Patrice Evra (Manr Utd), William Gallas (Arsenal), Gael Givet (Marseille), Philippe Mexes (AS Roma), Adil Rami (Lille), Anthony Reveillere (Lyon), Sebastien Squillaci (Lyon), Lilian Thuram (Barcelona)
Midfielders: Mathieu Bodmer (Lyon), Alou Diarra (Bordeaux), Lassana Diarra (Portsmouth), Mathieu Flamini (Arsenal), Claude Makelele (Chelsea), Rio Mavuba (Lille), Samir Nasri (Marseille), Jeremy Toulalan (Lyon), Jerome Rothen (PSG),
Strikers: Nicolas Anelka (Chelsea), Hatem Ben Arfa (Lyon), David Trezeguet (Juventus), Jimmy Briand (Rennes), Djibril Cisse (Marseille), Florent Malouda (Chelsea), Sidney Govou (Lyon), Franck Ribery (Bayern Munich), Louis Saha (Man Utd), Loic Remy (Lens)
Also See:
Spain v Italy
Brazil v Sweden
Mexico v Ghana
Why is Robert Green continuously overlooked?
Anyway…Go France!
Shipping in 4 goals each game not good?
[...] matches take place in London next Wednesday – but neither fixture involves England. While the Three Lions play France in Paris, Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium hosts an encounter between Brazil and Sweden and Fulham’s Craven [...]
If you think about it…if France have Anelka / Cisse / Trezeguet as their striking options, and Thuram / Gallas in central defence, how hard will this game be for England?
Good article by Ben Lyttleton on Les Bleus
update:i read somewhere that Trezeguet is back in the squad to replace Karim Benzema who is out with an injury.
yes – Vieira, Henry, Benzema – all out
As far as i remember the Italian national team rotates the captaincy in non-competitive matches, so it’s no real surprise to see Capello trying it over here too, especially as there is not 1 clear choice. I quite like the idea, and will be happy to see Gerrard, terry and Ferdinand share it out over the next few games. I’m also just glad that David Beckham wasn’t named captain!
Jeremy:
In Italian football tradition, the national team captain is the man with the most caps. It is not an issue of contention or debate as in England. Usually, it has been a defender or goalkeeper in modern times. For example, Facchetti, Zoff, Baresi, Maldini, and now Cannavaro. When Cannavaro retires from international play, the next captain most likely will be Gigi Buffon.
If Fabio Cannavaro does not play, the next player with the most caps is the captain. Regardless if it is a competitive match or friendly. To the best of my knowledge, there is no rotation policy. Even Marco Materazzi has been the captain on a few occasions.
Expected to have Hargreaves, Lampard and Gerrard all in the starting lineup? Sounds like over kill to me. Lampard hasn’t been in especially good form for Chelsea lately (not bad, just average). Why not try out a younger kid like Downing on the left and let Joe Cole play as a support striker drifting wide on the left so Rooney doesn’t have to hold it up himself. As pointed out, France’s defense is not pacey; wouldn’t having to deal with Cole further up, with more space around him, be more effective than putting three guys in the middle against a team that traditionally plays with TWO holding mids? I predict a boring 1-0 win for France if that is truly what Capello plans to do.
Also, good for Rio. He has been great for Man Utd this year and I think will be a better captain than Terry. I vote Rio or Gerrard for the armband. I can’t stand the way Terry whines and yells; he doesn’t seem like a teammate you would enjoy on the pitch
James
England don’t have nice goalkeepers.
James don’t stable goalkeeper.
i am french and i hope that we re gonna win tonight… it s a good test for us even if you are not qualified to the euro cup. But a lot of players are missing especially benzema henry viera . Good luck for your defeat lol
Does anyone know what channel I can watch this on?
excluding sky sports that is.
the fact that we’re probably going to take James to South Africa if Foster / Carson don’t show up in the qualifiers is very troubling…
What about Robinson?
Robinson – confidence and concentration issues that might have damaged his career permanently. He needs to get his form back for his club first.
foster is the best goalkeeper england has right now… he is far better than james.