French Soccer

[backrow]

hey, cut Poles some slack, they need all the help they can get, and at least this guy has a legitimate Polish roots! (unlike Nigerian Olisadebe or Brazilian Roger...).

i'm all for it

 

[frederic38]

hey, cut Poles some slack, they need all the help they can get, and at least this guy has a legitimate Polish roots! (unlike Nigerian Olisadebe or Brazilian Roger...).

i'm all for it

well, like dunga (bledorn verri ) said during the 2010 world cup, when asked about the big number of brazilians in the portugual team, brazil's B team is not going to beat brazil's A team...
when you take players from other countries, it's like saying that you are inferior to them


in this case it's slithly different because perquis is not part of the french team because he is too white, so he is over-looked


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/fo...s-Dunga-takes-dig-at-emigrant-Brazilians.html

 

[backrow]

today Poland drew 2:2 with a German team, losing a goal in 94th minute (Brazilian Cacau scored). Perquis had a good game, Szczesny (Arsenal) was outstanding.

and Poland is inferior to most teams, much as it hurts me to admit, Frederic! they are a host nation for Euro 2012 and are desperately looking for solutions.

 

[frederic38]

and Poland is inferior to most team, much as it hurts me to admit, Frederic!

yes, i know, "we" played a friendly match against them a month ago or so, they were horrible
on the other hand, ukraine will be good i think at the 2012 euro

 

[frederic38]

france did 0-0 against rumania in the qualifications to euro 2012
bosnia is only one point away
we have two matches left, against albania, and the last, against bosnia

the match was pathetic

 

[Rebajlo]

I agree with you Rebajlo and Frederic - two of my favorite CF posters by the way!

That being said, at least the guy is white so will not look out of place on the Polish side. Besides, it seems the French only want black players so what is a true Frenchman to do if his own nation abandons him?

Thanks for the compliment, mate.

As Perquis is a "true Frenchman", this naturally precludes him from being a Pole, does it not? We are, after all, talking about international football, not club football. :icon_wink:

you are right, at least he is white, and at least he is also of polish origin , it is a very distant origin, but at least it exists
poland could take it to the next stage, with polish-french-black timothée kolodziejczak

but perquis is a really good defender, very powerfull, he should have played for france since a long time
when he saw that he would not be able to make it to the french team, he decided to become polish

You can keep Timothee Kolodziejczak - he is far more suited to "Your" national team and city streets than those of Poland. :icon_wink:

Believe it or not, the fact that Perquis is White is actually immaterial, the salient issue being that he is not Polish.

Earlier in this thread You bemoaned the historically heavy Spanish and Italian strain in the French national team and stated that football should be played by "real French". Therefore the idea that the Polish national team should contain "real Poles", not some French geezers who happen to have Polish grandmothers, cannot speak a word of Polish, have never even set foot in Poland and would have preferred to wear a blue shirt emblazoned with le coq gaulois should come as no surprise.

hey, cut Poles some slack, they need all the help they can get, and at least this guy has a legitimate Polish roots! (unlike Nigerian Olisadebe or Brazilian Roger...).

i'm all for it

And I'm all against it.

National teams should consist of the people that they are representing. Is this really so difficult a concept to understand? :frusty: Fans wish to see their countrymen wearing their colours, not some mercenary foreigners. I'll say it again - this isn't club football. To be brutally honest, I'd rather see the Polish team lose than have it filled with faux-"Poles".

How does the average Polish fan feel if he is in the stands bellowing the national anthem and he sees the likes of Perquis (for whom Poland is a blatantly obvious second choice of convenience) standing there like a stunned mullet, unable to sing or comprehend the anthem of the country he purports to represent? Sure, Perquis could google up a French version of the lyrics but he cannot feel the anthem, he cannot relate to the people, he has never lived amongst them, he has no idea about their history. Why is that? That's because he isn't Polish.

I'll also add that if I was French, I'd contemptuously view Perquis and Obraniak as traitors...

A single Polish grandmother does not automatically constitute "legitimate Polish roots" for the purpose of representing the nation. The bloke is genetically 75% French, was born in France, speaks French, has learned and played his football in France and - quite naturally - wished to play for France. Kindly explain how this makes him Polish?

and Poland is inferior to most teams, much as it hurts me to admit, Frederic! they are a host nation for Euro 2012 and are desperately looking for solutions.

Here's a spectacularly novel solution, mate. :lightbulb:

Instead of stacking the Ekstraklasa (domestic top division) with cheap fifth-rate foreigners; trawling the world for players with Polish grandmothers or players whose distant ancestors passed a Pole on the street; and blowing most of their treasury on booze, whores and other "perquisites" for their legions of fat-arsed, purple-nosed, perennially-inebriated officials, the PZPN (Polish FA) should have been investing in youth development with the aim of producing Polish talent. By Satan and all of his pin-penis-packing, pox-propagating pixies, it's not really the proverbial brain surgery or rocket science, is it?

yes, i know, "we" played a friendly match against them a month ago or so, they were horrible

Poland may have been "horrible", but at least all bar one of the starters ("naturalised" Frenchman Ludovic Obraniak) were Poles. How about the French team? Even the two unmistakably White starters were of non-French extraction, as was White substitute striker Kevin Gameiro. So, what was more horrible - the Polish performance or the composition of "Your" national team? Tough question, that...

Sorry if I appear a bit aggressive lads :sorry:, but the subject of players "switching" nationalities really, really disgusts me. I've always averred that such fluid "eligibility" rules were a "thin edge of the wedge" to soften up White fans for eventual acceptance of the quotidian presence of non-White foreigners in their national teams.

Look at the case of Sunderland's "Scottish" international defender Phil Bardsley, who was born in Salford and whose family is English. His father, however, spent his first few days on earth in Glasgow as he just happened to be born there while Bardsley's grandparents were visiting Scotland - he lived the rest of his life in England. Yet such a highly tenuous "connection" ensured that Phil Bardsley is "eligible" to play for Scotland...

 

[frederic38]

Believe it or not, the fact that Perquis is White is actually immaterial, the salient issue being that he is not Polish.

Earlier in this thread You bemoaned the historically heavy Spanish and Italian strain in the French national team and stated that football should be played by "real French". Therefore the idea that the Polish national team should contain "real Poles", not some French geezers who happen to have Polish grandmothers, cannot speak a word of Polish, have never even set foot in Poland and would have preferred to wear a blue shirt emblazoned with le coq gaulois should come as no surprise.

i didn't understand the part in bold

and for the rest, i agree,i just said that at least he is white
i posted the info about perquis because i agreed with you


i see you are really sensitive about this subject
it's because you support countries that are mostly white, and homogenous
but france and other countries are different
i don't even feel french, i don't have anything to do with brittany, paris, the north of france..... i never got there, and obody in my family come from there
there are in france big differences between the regions, and it's even worse in italy
we don't even spoke the same language before french became obligatory and other languages forbidden

it's the same with catalans, some of them would rather see a black in their team than a castillan

so i am extremely disillusioned about national teams


the french team is a joke, every national anthem is always an embarrasment, but i am used to it

and also they play very bad, i am used to it

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vergonha

 

[backrow]

rebajlo, i quite enjoy your posts, but please spare me the condescending tone bud. just because i don't often, if ever talk soccer on boards is because living in Spain, i've plenty of spaniards and brits to talk to on that topic. i know a thing or two about the sport.

okay, back to the issue, let's agree to disagree. while i may agree with you in principle, that0s unfortunately the way soccer is... had PZPN moved their asses when we could have had Podolski, (Klose never even tried playing for Poland, never wanted it) and few other players of that calibre that we have lost to Germany, maybe there would be no need to look elsewhere for naturalized Poles. and at least these people in question have ROOTS, which are traceable and since they can legally hold Polish passport, why not play for the team? so i am a fan and i don't mind watching Perquis, Obraniak and Boenisch play with the white eagle on their chest, therefore your sweeping generalization of what would fans rather see, really, means what you would rather see.

i fully agree with what needs to be done about Ekstraklasa, but that issue goes deeper than top level of clubs in Poland, it needs to start at the bottom, training and prep of junior teams, something they managed to do not that long ago, winning medals at different levels on european and even world stage.

in ideal world, there would be no need for that kind of shenanigans, but Poland needs to somehow present themselves on Euro 2012 and they do what they can. too little, too late, anyhow.

EDIT: and i am sure we're both happy that a black Columbian, Arboleda is out of the contention for "national" team. after many players voicing their objections and him suffereing a serious injury, coach stated he won't call him up. so Poland is not quite ready to be France II

 

[Rebajlo]

rebajlo, i quite enjoy your posts, but please spare me the condescending tone bud. just because i don't often, if ever talk soccer on boards is because living in Spain, i've plenty of spaniards and brits to talk to on that topic. i know a thing or two about the sport.

backrow - Please accept my sincerest apologies for any offence that my post may have caused, for insult was not my aim. Any perceived condescension was unintentional - I even added the "sorry if I appear a bit aggressive..." qualification accompanied by the blue faced "Sorry" emoticon sorry to indicate that I was not having a go at either You (or frederic38) personally, rather that I was venting my frustration at the fluidity of international "eligibility" in the modern game and its consequent erosion of national identities.

For the life of me, I cannot see anything that I wrote which would indicate a dismissive assumption that You didn't "know a thing or two about the sport". Nevertheless, I accept that my explanations of things may at times be a bit over elaborate and could be interpreted as containing a touch of patronizing hauteur but I only go into seemingly pedantic detail as many of our members probably don't follow soccer too closely (or even at all) and may not know, for example, what terms like Ekstraklasa or acronyms like PZPN refer to. All in all, I hope that I don't come across as some sort of elitist ponce... :icon_wink:

okay, back to the issue, let's agree to disagree. while i may agree with you in principle, that0s unfortunately the way soccer is...

Mate, I'm filled to the brim with all kinds of principles - which probably explains why I'm usually so bloody pissed off at everything. Put it this way - just because that's "the way soccer is" doesn't mean it's right and that people should simply accept it. The Westerm world is mired in the current ugly situation because we as individuals, as a society, as separate nations and as a collective race have allowed the principles of the traditional order to be slowly abraded until they have almost crumbled into figurative dust. If football fans had staunchly opposed the participation of non-Whites and the loosening of restrictions regarding the selection of national team players the sport as a whole would not be the virtually unwatchable circus that it is today, with the distinction between club and international football becoming more and more blurred by the minute.

and at least these people in question have ROOTS, which are traceable and since they can legally hold Polish passport, why not play for the team? so i am a fan and i don't mind watching Perquis, Obraniak and Boenisch play with the white eagle on their chest, therefore your sweeping generalization of what would fans rather see, really, means what you would rather see.

Well then, if we look at things from that angle, we've definitely established the views of two fans: backrow is all for "naturalising" such players, while the notorious ultra-traditionalist and reactionary Rebajlo abhors the very though of it. Now we simply need to garner the opinions of every other Polish fan in order to obtain a clearer picture of the prevailing supporter sentiment. :icon_wink:

Sure, opinion upon the issue is divided but I'm confident enough that the majority of the fans are less than happy about the presence of fellows who would rather be playing in the colours of another nation. The spectrum of views that I have encountered when reading both news forums and those of various clubs is quite broad, but it is rather apparent that most "hard core" football fans (like Your humble correspondent) are far from keen on the idea. On the other hand, one can always find advocates of the opposite extreme - for instance, last week on the Gazeta Wyborcza forum a couple of stupid pricks managed to stand out in even that generally abysmal intellectual milieu by expressing a genuine wish to see Korona Kielce's black Brazilian defender Hernani (who possesses Polish citizenship after playing and therefore residing in the country since 2004) receive a call up. Talk about a lack of pride coupled with **** for brains...

You mentioned Sebastian Boenisch. Let's have a little look at Boenisch and the other two long-time German residents who have made appearances for Poland in the last year and a half.

Sebastian Boenisch was born in Gliwice and left Poland with his Silesian German family when he was two years old. He played for Germany at U-21 level and also wished to represent Germany at senior level. However, when he realised that this wasn't going to happen, he miraculously "rediscovered" his "Polish" heritage and opted for Poland. That's the disctionary definition of patriotism all right...

Here is a video of Boenisch answering questions posed in Polish - too bad that he answers them in English as he is not fluent in his, er, "native" tongue. Then again, his family's native tongue was always German, wasn't it?

[video=youtube;9bxKJKAdFhM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bxKJKAdFhM&feature=relmfu[/video]

Adam Matuszczyk also moved to Germany with his parents at the age of two, but he always wished to represent Poland and made appearances for the U-21 team. In addition, he speaks Polish.

Finally, there's Eugen Polanski, who was born in Sosnowiec and whose family migrated to Germany when he was three. Polanski represented Germany at various youth levels, was captain of the U-21s and always openly stated that he feels German and that his dream was to play for Germany at senior level. Now, isn't that exactly what You would expect from a Polish international? Yet once it became clear that the door to the german senior team was closed, Polanski - like Boenisch - decided to take the Polish route. Polanski speaks the language passably well but, just like the cases of Obraniak, Perquis and Boenisch, poland is clearly a second choice option for him. So forgive me if I view such clowns as not being worthy of wearing the Polish shirt.

i fully agree with what needs to be done about Ekstraklasa, but that issue goes deeper than top level of clubs in Poland, it needs to start at the bottom, training and prep of junior teams, something they managed to do not that long ago, winning medals at different levels on european and even world stage.

Let's be honest. Professionally run junior and youth development doesn't exist in Poland. Shoddy, frighteningly incompetent, alcohol-soaked nepotistic amateurism has been the order of the three post-Solidarnosc decades, which destroyed Polish sport.

"Expert" bald-pated coaches wearing plimsolls and 1970s-style tracksuits which cannot be zipped up over their hairy, gurgling beer guts are found all over the country. Such razor-sharp athletic masterminds amble about the unmarked sidelines of potted "training grounds" blearily staring at their loudly-ticking Communist-era stop-watches and occassinally look up to shout "kiwnij" at the lads aimlessly jogging up and down the cow paddock. Despite their sweaty, corpulent lethargy these consummate football tacticians explode (into their pants) at the mere mention of phrases like "bohaterowie z Wembley" or "Orly Gorskiego".

When it comes to medals, Poland won the European U-16 Championship back in 1993, was second in 1999 and finished third in 1990. Poland's last "success" was winning the European U-18 Championship in 2001. Now, how many of the kids in those teams have had a successful senior career? More to the point, have You seen the results at youth level over the past decade?

Those European youth championships were achieved despite the "system". Young Polish players are quickly drawn into the "culture" of drunken parties, whoring and idleness funded by the comparatively large pay packets in the "senior professional" ranks.

in ideal world, there would be no need for that kind of shenanigans, but Poland needs to somehow present themselves on Euro 2012 and they do what they can. too little, too late, anyhow.

Fielding a team featuring two French blokes, a German and a Pole who took great pains to tell everyone that he is a German and was devastated that he couldn't play for Germany isn't a very photogenic way to present the national team - it is bloody embarrassing.

I cannot see Poland digging themselves out of the first round, even with the presence of such "world class" reinforcements...

and i am sure we're both happy that a black Columbian, Arboleda is out of the contention for "national" team. after many players voicing their objections and him suffereing a serious injury, coach stated he won't call him up. so Poland is not quite ready to be France II

Franciszek "Dyzma" Smuda yesterday stated that Arboleda is finally out of contention - which was an almighty relief. However, given Smuda's propensity for - how shall we say it? - lying, I still wouldn't rule anything out, especially as upon his appointment the illustrious slack-jawed manager famously vowed that he would not select "naturalised" players...

 

[backrow]

good read, really well thought out and written post!

like i said, ideally, i'm sure most if not all fans would want teams made up exclusively out of their own, truly Polish, German or French players, but that's not the case. this rule should not exist, yet it does and therefore i do not blame Poland for trying and getting help in this way, (unfortunately) legit and followed by many pseudo national teams around the globe. i do realize that these guys are little more than mercenaries, only playing for (in this instance) Poland because they, for whatever reason, didn't get a chance with their true country, they do that to promote themselves on the international level, play biggest tournamets and have a taste of international football. myself, i played rugby for two countries, mostly because with one of them i could never play at the level of international competition that was acceptable to me. did it play worse than others because i was naturalized instead of full blooded countryman? nope. i simply played the sport. so i am too, you could say a mercenary.

i'm not "all for" naturalising players, but in few cases, where it's justified, i don't see a huge problem with it (i know that you do). no Arboledas or others, but people with real descendancy.

back to Poland, their issues are many, starting with the governing body that are good for nothing, old fashioned ancients still living off the far off glory days. junior soccer has fallen to the wayside, there's not much hope for future unless they somehow manage to expedit a whole team of Sczesny's abroad to learn their skills there. Smuda is a joke of a coach, and for someone with a reputation for being tough, he sure wavers a lot! flat out lying, stupid judgement calls... he will get on well with Boenisch, Perquis and Obraniak since they probably speak more polish than he does.

 

[Sky]

Despite what the national team's composition suggests, there are a lot of quality White players from France. Many of them have been overlooked by the managers, such as Gameiro, Debuchy, Flamini, and Jeremy Mathieu. They also have very promising youth talent like Antoine Griezmann, Maxime Gonalons, and Nolan Roux.

Domenech seemed to be a lover of the Black players, and had personal problems with a lot of the White players. This is why he left out Mexes, benched Gourcuff. In the past, Domenech was in big feuds with Giuly and Pires.

France should go with a starting 11 like this:

Debuchy---Mexes--Lloris--Rami---Mathieu
------Toulalan----Marvin Martin
Menez----Gourcuff---Ribery
-------Gameiro------

 

[frederic38]

Despite what the national team's composition suggests, there are a lot of quality White players from France. Many of them have been overlooked by the managers, such as Gameiro, Debuchy, Flamini, and Jeremy Mathieu. They also have very promising youth talent like Antoine Griezmann, Maxime Gonalons, and Nolan Roux.

Domenech seemed to be a lover of the Black players, and had personal problems with a lot of the White players. This is why he left out Mexes, benched Gourcuff. In the past, Domenech was in big feuds with Giuly and Pires.

France should go with a starting 11 like this:

Debuchy---Mexes--Lloris--Rami---Mathieu
------Toulalan----Marvin Martin
Menez----Gourcuff---Ribery
-------Gameiro------

welcome to castefootball sky
you seem to know really well french soccer, are you french?
other white talented players: perquis, puygrenier (he was bought by zenith st petersbourgh, but his career did not go to the next level)
olivier giroud
steve savidan, but he had a heart disease

nolan roux also: he was supposed to go to shalke 04 but the transfert failed for obscure reasons

 

[frederic38]

on thursday, laurent "blanc" will have to select a group of players for the last two matches of euro 2012 qualifications

and a lot of new white players should be on that list:

-maxime goñalons:

he impressed with olympique lyonnais, laurent "blanc" already said that he will be almost certainly in the list


-jeremy mathieu:

he plays in valencia, currently second of spanish la liga, better than madrid and barcelona currently
he was the best valencian player against barcelona, everybody saw how good he was
laurent "blanc" has to select him, otherwise it will be a shame
also, jeremy mathieu plays left back, he is clearly the best french left back right now:
evra has been destroyed against mexico in 2010, and was suposed to never come back in the french national team after the 2010 world cup, where he was the one that was responsible for the "strike" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wa_f47OPj_g&feature=relmfu)
clichy has been bad every time he played for france, he was responsible for the loss 1-0 against bielorussia, nobody wants him back
abidal scored an own goal against valencia, and an own goal against bielorussia, and he is being exposed as a very bad defender in barcelona

-olivier giroud:

his team is leader of ligue 1, and he is the best player of his team, the second top scorer of ligue1 right now
hoarau was always called by laurent "blanc" despite scoring only 9 goals last year, and 6 the year before (he was booed by paris saint germain's supporters because he missed incredible amount of occasions)
now hoarau is injuried, so giroud should take his place, since he has the same qualities, he is just 10000000000times better


-mathieu bodmer:

paris saint germain is having a great start, and bodmer is really impressive this year
he always has been a world class player, but now they can't deny it

-clement chantome:

he is ready to play for france, he is having a great start with paris saint germain also

so one of these white middlefielders should take the place of alou diarra in the middlefield (he is no longer a starter in olympique de marseille)



interesting to note, these french whites are really french, only goñalons is of catalan origin i think
and most of them are very powerfull, and imposing, except chantome

we will see if laurent "blanc" will make the good choices...



(jeremy mathieu has been overlooked by the french coatches so mutch, that he doesn't expect anything:
http://www.footmercato.net/valence-mathieu-ne-pense-plus-aux-bleus_73501

"il affirme avoir « tourné la page ». « Je ne me casse plus la tête, j’ai déjà connu beaucoup trop de déceptions avec ça ». Son seul objectif est donc de « s’éclater avec Valence »"

translation:
"jeremy mathieu says he moved on
he no longer thinks about the french national team, since he has suffered too many disappointments because of it
his only aim is to have fun in valencia")

 

[referendum]

So, with a new white midfielder, how many total white starters will the French national team likely have?

 

[frederic38]

So, with a new white midfielder, how many total white starters will the French national team likely have?

it's hard to say

currently, the best french central defender is injuried: mexes (white)
but whites are competitive in every part of the field
we could have a 100% white team


we had 3 whites in the last match
with the new white middlefielder (gonalons most likely) it will be 4 whites
but i really think that jeremy mathieu should be titular as a left back, so 5 maybe

 

[frederic38]

what a joke...
the only new player laurent "blanc" called is the black foward gomis.......:kev:

 

[Liverlips]

Seems the team is getting even blacker.

 

[frederic38]

Seems the team is getting even blacker.

yes, laurent "blanc" reminded me why i never suported this team
now, let's hope that france can lose to bosnia, or albania
otherwise, france will be in the euro 2012, to entertain us with their offensive minded style opcorn::icon_rolleyes:

 

[frederic38]

http://www.google.com/hostednews/af...ocId=CNG.a9031632fe07479fa0093f4623f141e3.4e1

finally jeremy mathieu is called
but a lot of white players are injuried for the two next matches

 

[Sky01]

It simply makes no sense why Gonalons has been left out while Mvila is rated so highly. Lyon have been playing well so far and Gonalons has started in 8 of their 9 games. Leaving out Toulalan is also curious because he's the best ball-winner that France have got and is surely more valuable than an inexperienced Mvila.

And why does Blanc go with Malouda when he doesn't even get regular game time at Chelsea? I've watched almost all of Chelsea's games this season and Malouda's crossing is terrible and he constantly loses the ball. Griezmann should be called up instead.

The French squad doesn't look too bad right now. Hopefully Mexes and Gourcuff recover soon or else there's no hope for France.

 

[frederic38]

It simply makes no sense why Gonalons has been left out while Mvila is rated so highly. Lyon have been playing well so far and Gonalons has started in 8 of their 9 games. Leaving out Toulalan is also curious because he's the best ball-winner that France have got and is surely more valuable than an inexperienced Mvila.

And why does Blanc go with Malouda when he doesn't even get regular game time at Chelsea? I've watched almost all of Chelsea's games this season and Malouda's crossing is terrible and he constantly loses the ball. Griezmann should be called up instead.

The French squad doesn't look too bad right now. Hopefully Mexes and Gourcuff recover soon or else there's no hope for France.

laurent blanc said that he would only take players that are in shape, and that are regular starters in their club

but he selected alou diarra

diarra has been booed in his last match with marseille, he is having an horrible season so far
laurent blanc had to explain to the reporters why he called alou diarra despite his horrible shape currently
and he answered that alou diarra is important for the team.....

also, i forgot to mention that sagna beeing injuried, the french right back debuchy has been called for the first time

 

[Giles Daldanus]

Mathieu Debuchy was very solid in his debut against Albania...hopefully some of the new players like Mathieu and Koscielny (it's not his first call-up, but he has not yet been capped) will get their chance against the Bosnians.

Who do you consider to be the best ever French goalkeeper? I liked Barthez (he usually shined when it mattered most, but had quite a few eccentricities). France still seem to produce many highly rated goalkeepers - Lloris, Carasso, Coupet, Landreau, Mandanda, Vercoutre..

 

[frederic38]

Mathieu Debuchy was very solid in his debut against Albania...hopefully some of the new players like Mathieu and Koscielny (it's not his first call-up, but he has not yet been capped) will get their chance against the Bosnians.

Who do you consider to be the best ever French goalkeeper? I liked Barthez (he usually shined when it mattered most, but had quite a few eccentricities). France still seem to produce many highly rated goalkeepers - Lloris, Carasso, Coupet, Landreau, Mandanda, Vercoutre..

yes, i think debuchy definitely earned his spot in the team
if sagna comes back in the team after this, it's a shame

for the match against bosnia, evra might not be able to play, and maybe abidal won't be ready
so jeremy mathieu should start the match
evra , a left back, was replaced by a right back (reveillere) in the match against albania, after his injury...... too bad jeremy mathieu wasn't on the bench! (he was in the public)
(reveillere scored a goal regrdless :smiley


france has a great history when it comes to goalkeepers (at least since i started watching soccer)
stephane ruffier is very very talented too, he should be in the french team

for me, the best french goal keeper of all time (=since i started watching soccer, in 98) is barthez
i saw him make so incredibly important saves

he saved a penalty against beckham in 2004 i think

i was particularly impressed by this save:

the save against portugal in semi final of the euro 2000 (france eventually won the competition)
[video=youtube;BsBSrm8jCVA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BsBSrm8jCVA[/video]

the save is at 1.40.00 in the video
this save was in the last seconds of the game, it allowed france to go in extra time, and france managed to win in the extra time

i know at a point of his career, he started making mistakes...i don't really know why
but he had no weak point

excellent in the airs, great presence on aerial balls, able to do amazing saves thanks to his explosiveness
and he was amazing at lauching couter-attacks, both with his feet and his hand
he was able to throw the ball amazingly far, and was very precise

i remember long time ago in a french TV show, they showed a video of barthez training with olympique de marseille i think
he joked with another player : "do you hear the sound of the ball hitting the crossbar?" and then he kicked the ball (with his foot), and the ball fell very precisely on the crossbar
and he did this from a very big distance, in only one try


lloris is the best right now
the most complete goalkeeper
i can tell you that without lloris, france's results during the lasts years would have been a lot more pathetic

ruffier is excellent

i never liked coupet, but i was realy impressed by his save against barcelona for lyon, when i saw it live
one of the most incredible saves i saw, and it was against rivaldo
[video=youtube;Ig4paY8w96c]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ig4paY8w96c&feature=related[/video]

(the black-brazilian defender cacapa almost scored the owngoal of the year :smokin

and he was really complete also

landreau is another story....
he was one of the best in the world at stoping penaltys, and he was able to make incredible saves, but he was horrible on the crosses
he did a lot of incredible mistakes on aerial balls during his career
but he still is very good, and spectacular to watch


sebastien frey was great also, he will retire this year
he did a great career in italy
but during the barthez era, he never played (because barthez was out of reach for everyone) and when he got the oportunity to play after barthez retired, he did a mistake against ukraine
[video=dailymotion;x3jq1a]http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3jq1a_ukraine-france-2-2-bourde-de-frey_sport[/video]

and after that, mandanda "fragile hands" and lloris took the spot
[h=3][/h]

 

[backrow]

i always thought Frey was quite good.

 

[Giles Daldanus]

yes, i think debuchy definitely earned his spot in the team
if sagna comes back in the team after this, it's a shame

for the match against bosnia, evra might not be able to play, and maybe abidal won't be ready
so jeremy mathieu should start the match
evra , a left back, was replaced by a right back (reveillere) in the match against albania, after his injury...... too bad jeremy mathieu wasn't on the bench! (he was in the public)

Nice, I really like Reveillere as well, he appears to have a nice positional sense and often poses an offensive threat.

Btw, I saw a bit of the BATE Borisov vs. Paris Saint-Germain match (second leg) during the 2010/2011 edition of the UEFA Europa League and Clément Chantôme impressed me a lot - he seemed like a very tidy player and was quite good when it came to breaking up attacks and distributing the ball. He probably deserves a call-up as well..I tend to have a soft spot for defensive midfielders.

Great call on Ruffier, he has no obvious weakness and is still in his 20s.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0eQnBGJ21s


Thanks so much for these clips, really enjoyed them!

Yes, an excellent save, I remember it well, as it turned the tide of the game against Portugal...Abel Xavier, who played very well during this match, eventually went from "hero to zero" (in the English commentators' words), as he committed a handball in his own penalty box. I remember watching this game (I was 13 at the time) and it was very dramatic...I sympathized with the Portuguese players, but they should not have vented their frustration on the refereeing crew. It was a cruel twist of fate, but the penalty was justly awarded.


I also vividly remember his acrobatic save to deny the Brazilian Ronaldo during the 1998 World Cup Final. Barthez was a brave goalkeeper who was not afraid to take risks.

Not sure why Barthez became prone to mistake...perhaps his transfer to Manchester United turned out to be a double-edged sword. Big clubs could be very harsh in the way they treat their players (in comparison to more modest ones)... once you make an error, you may be dropped almost immediately. Perhaps Barthez was not really provided with a supportive environment during his stint with "The Red Devils" and maybe his confidence was negatively affected. Barthez generally seemed more relaxed when playing for France.

Thank you for the other videos!
Shame that Frey is retiring, but he will not be forgotten and is still really appreciated in Italy. Lloris is the one for the future and I am sure that he will not disappoint.
I agree that Coupet and Landreau tend to blow hot and cold, but are definitely above average.


As for penalty saving experts - my favourite would be Ricardo Pereira, Syarhey Veremko, Heurelho Gomes and Jens Lehmann. As you said, Barthez was also more than capable when it came to this component of the game.

Ricardo Pereira (former Portuguese international):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ru-c6CUep2c