Haha, you know this guy? Of course you know! It's our Franck Ribéry, years ago, in Marseille. He had a difficult childhood and his family was poor. He really deserves it to be so lucky nowadays! Imagine the schoolkids being little annoying brats towards him.

I remember there was an interview 2 years ago, when journalists went to Chemin Vert where Franck lived during his childhood. The journalists asked a turkish guy in his neighbourhood about Franck. He responded: "Franck? Ow yeah I remember the lad. We always used to play there - (he points at a small field) but his brother was way lot better! His brother, François, was much more skilled and had more technique." That got me - I'm curious now and im gonna find more information about Franck Ribéry's brother!

Let's take a look on another talented little boy from Marseille. Doesn't he look familiar to you? Especially the eyes and the eyebrows: Samir Nasri!

In this picture below, he really looks like nowadays! Exactly the same!

lovely hair :) and lovely smile

Raymond Domenech unveiled the list today for the WC qualifier vs. Romania and the friendly against Tunisia.

Biggest surprise for me? No Samir Nasri. Raymond’s reason? “Samir is back playing but he is still not fully fit.” And of course it has nothing to do with the fact that Yoann Gourcuff took that #10 role that was expected to be Samir’s and made it his own instead.

However, a good thing is: Franck Ribéry is finally back! And Patrick Vieira, who I think is too old to play, is in and Flamini is left out. Man what a bad decision! What is Domenech doing?

Hatem Ben Arfa is also on the list again, but he is nut fully fit, I think it's better if he will be replaced by Samir Nasri who is actually fit enough. Samir played well in the game Arsenal-Fc Porto.

Also Sidney Govou is left out as well, because Ribéry is in the house.

This is the full list:

Liste des joueurs sélectionnés

Gardiens de But

Hugo LLORIS Olympique Lyonnais
Stève MANDANDA Olympique de Marseille

Défenseurs

Eric ABIDAL FC Barcelone
Gaël CLICHY Arsenal F.C.
Patrice EVRA Manchester United
Rod FANNI Stade Rennais F.C.
William GALLAS Arsenal F.C.
Philippe MEXES AS Rome
Bakary SAGNA Arsenal F.C.
Sébastien SQUILLACI FC Séville

Milieux de Terrain

Alou DIARRA Girondins de Bordeaux
Lassana DIARRA FC Portsmouth
Yoann GOURCUFF Girondins de Bordeaux
Jérémy TOULALAN Olympique Lyonnais
Patrick VIEIRA Inter de Milan

Attaquants

Nicolas ANELKA Chelsea F.C.
Hatem BEN-ARFA Olympique de Marseille
Karim BENZEMA Olympique Lyonnais
Thierry HENRY FC Barcelone
Florent MALOUDA Chelsea F.C.
Franck RIBERY Bayern Munich
Florent SINAMA-PONGOLLE Atletico Madrid nouveau

There were interesting rumours about the French team. Read this interesting post: http://marseille.theoffside.com/french-ligue-1/pape-diouf-they-hate-each-other-its-hardly-news.html where Pape Diouf says: "Nasri and Ribéry: They hate each other? It's hardly news!". 

And the writer of the newsblog Marseille Offside says: "It's the behaviour of the young players towards the old guard. It's more of an education thing. Henry has a seat in the bus of the Team and when he wanted to get to his, Benzema told him to go sit elsewhere. Aside from that, after the second game, he was so pissed he started criticizing Henry and Thuram, to what Makélélé told him to shut the fuck up and thn Thuram gave him the nickname Benarfa for his constant whining.
And the fact that he’s constantly with Nasri not trying to fit in made him quickly very unpopular. These things would have never happened a year ago. What’s worse is I feel they’re doing them a disservice by letting them believ they’re so great. Djibril Cissé scored 25+ goals for three seasons at the same age 5 years ago. Let not get ahead of ourselves. Neither Nasri nor Benzema have done anything more than just show great talent. They have buzz, hype around them but haven’t done anything noteworthy yet. "

I've asked the writer of the Marseille Offside where he got his sources from. He hasn't responded yet. I hope these rumours aren't true, though it's known that Ben Arfa, Benzema and Nasri are bigheaded young boys with a lot of talent.

To cheer us up, let's look at the friendships. Karim Benzema and Samir Nasri are best friends: when Nasri still played

Aw. They are sweet together, isn't it?

After the embarrassing defeat against Austria, (3-1) France has returned with a victory against Serbia. This was the line up in which France played:

Do you see the changes? Gourcuff was starting over Nasri! Nasri was injured. I didn't think before Gourcuff would do so well! He has taken a little bit of the Zidane position role.

Henry had a great game as well! He got a chance to play wide left, instead of in the centre. Benzema hadn't got his day. While usually he very often got the ball, this time not. He was replaced by Anelka in the second half.

Toulalan is getting better each game! He helps the attacking players.

Wait till Ribéry is back. France has great players, but I think the coach isn't good with his astrology.

Next match is against Rumania on 11 Octobre. I wonder which players Domenech will call up.

My favourite line up would be:

            Mandanda
  Sagna Gallas Abidal Clichy
Ribery Toulalan Gourcuff Nasri
        Benzema Henry

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