Allez les Vieux? France to Rely on the Old Guys Again
It is now a part of French football lore.
In summer of 2005, the France team was sitting in fourth place in their World Cup qualifying group. Coach Raymond Domenech went to Zinedine Zidane, Lilian Thuram and Claude Makélélé, each of them a couple of years past that thirty year milestone, and implored them to come out of international retirement. They did.
The result was synergistic, a pulling together of the team that saw them through qualifying, through the group stage, past Spain, past Brazil, past Portugal… A magical run, right up until the point in the Final where Materazzi was lying on the ground and Zidane was seeing red.
Fast forward a couple of years. Zidane is gone, but Makélélé (now 35) and Thuram (36) are still around. Both were integral to the team’s Euro qualfication, and both are expected to be starters for most games in the finals.
And, since time doesn’t stand still, in the interim they’ve been joined in the over-thirty group by players like Willy Sagnol (31), Patrick Vieira (31) and Thierry Henry (30), as well as the post-World Cup goalkeeper Grégory Coupet (35.) With the possible exception of Sagnol, who’s been hampered by injuries in the past year, all are expected to start regularly.
It’s a somewhat risky strategy. Neither Thuram nor Henry has started regularly this season for Barcelona, and Henry has had a difficult time maintaining fitness. Vieira, the France captain, has also battled injuries. Sagnol has struggled to regain his starting position at Bayern Munich since coming back from a serious knee injury earlier this year. Makélélé has been integral to Chelsea’s success in the 2007-08 season and doesn’t seem to be feeling the years as much as others his age, but even he can’t play as long or as frequently as he used to. He’ll also be coming off of an intense league season that’s seen his team both challenging in the EPL title fight and heading to the Champions League final.
In qualification, coach Raymond Domenech has seemed content to assume that these players will be up for the challenge. He has given experience to some younger players (notably Jérémy Toulalan at central midfield, François Clerc at rightback and Karim Benzema in attack,) but for the most part he seems to be trusting that players over thirty can get the job done.
France fans are hoping he’s right. Come Euro time, they’ll be praying, Allez les Vieux.*
*Go, old guys!
For more on the France team, check out our France page.
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Comments


Why not mix in more of Nasri, especially with all of the veteran leadership. Seems like an ideal time to get him acclimated against top international competition in advance of 2010…
Allez les Bleus!
Posted from
United States




That’s going to be one of the more interesting stories of the French team — how Domenech will integrate the younger and older players, and what balance he’ll use.
One thing about Nasri is that he didn’t get his first callup until March of 2007, and then later that year he got injured, so a lot of qualifying was done without him. The big question is whether or not the team can just drop him in and have him make a difference. Personally, I’d love to see it.
Posted from
United States




I can’t see the problem of having experienced (AS IN OLD) players and younger ones on a squad. It’s actually the ideal setting. Guys like henry, makelele, viera and the likes have 3 world cup and 2 euro campaigns under their boots, you can’t beat that. Add a few Benzema, Nasri, Bodmer, benharfa, ribery to spice things up and that’s the same recipe as the world cup 06, when everyboby was burying them even after they got out of the group stages.
Posted from
Australia




Julian, France fans are hoping you’re right.
If it works, people will be saying, “Domenech’s a genius!” If it doesn’t, it will be “Why the hell did he start a 35- and a 36-year-old!”
Posted from
United States




I thought the starting keeper for Les Blues was Mickaël Landreau now…




Les Bleus pardon me…




Marco, Coupet caught a foot in his own net last year. During practice, no less. It led to a serious knee injury (torn ACL, I think) that led to Landreau starting a number of qualifiers. But I don’t think anybody was thrilled by this turn of events except possibly Landreau’s mom and grandma. He’s less decisive and consistent that Coupet. (Although I’ve only seen a couple of PSG games this year, so what do I know?)
Domenech is very wedded to hierarchy, though, especially with goalkeepers. So Coupet will be the number one, Landreau probably #2, and Frey probably #3.
Posted from
United States




Frey is much better than Coupet and Landreau.. He does not have that much International experience but he is much much more skilled. Frey should be France’s # 1 after this tournament.
Posted from
United States


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