Nine France World Cup players recalled
Nine of the players who were in France’s 2010 FIFA World Cup squad have been handed recalls for the UEFA 2012 European Football Championship qualifying matches, meaning they'll get the chance to represent their nation again.
All of the 23 men who were in the squad who flew to South Africa were banned for France’s last game against Norway earlier this month, which they lost 2-1.
Chelsea winger Florent Malouda has returned to the squad to face Belarus on 3 September and Bosnia-Hercegovina on 7 September, as has Olympique Lyonnais goalkeeper Hugo Lloris.
Experimental squad
New France national team coach Laurent Blanc has named four uncapped players in the squad and told a press conference that: "To have a young team is a good thing but it's not enough to be competitive at the highest level. We tried to come up with a mixture of talented youngsters and more experienced players who can guide them."
Among the uncapped quartet is 23-year-old Lorient striker Kevin Gameiro, who scored 17 Ligue 1 goals last season. The manager said of Gamerio that: "He's young, scores a lot of a goals and can be an interesting solution up front." The others are goalkeeper Cedric Carrasso and defenders Mamadou Sakho and Benoit Tremoulinas.
France’s World Cup campaign ended in disaster after they failed to win a single group match and Nicolas Anelka was sent home after insulting then manager Raymond Domenech. As a result of the decision to dismiss Anelka, the rest of the squad staged a training boycott.
Toulalan, Abidal miss out
Anelka was later banned for a further 18 matches by the French Football Federation, with Patrice Evra suspended for five games and Franck Ribery for three.
Jeremy Toulalan — who was suspended by the FFF for one match but could have played in the Bosnia game — has been left out of the squad, as has Eric Abidal, who was called to the FFF’s disciplinary hearing but escaped further sanction. France will also had to leave out Yoann Gourcuff who is suspended after he was sent off in their last match at the World Cup.
Tags: