Basement X

Meet the world champions:

LLORIS (Tottenham)
MANDANDA (Marseille) >> replaced by Ruffier (St Etienne)
LANDREAU (Bastia)

KOCIESLNY (Arsenal)
VARANE (Real Madrid)
SAKHO (Liverpool)
MANGALA (FC Porto)
DEBUCHY (Newcastle)
SAGNA (Arsenal)
EVRA (Man Utd)
DIGNE (Paris SG)

POGBA (Juventus)
MATUIDI (Paris SG)
CABAYE (Paris SG)
GRENIER (Lyon)
SISSOKHO (Newcastle)
MAVUBA (Lille)

RIBERY (Bayern Munich)
BENZEMA (Real Madrid)
GIROUD (Arsenal)
GRIEZMANN (Real Sociedad)
REMY (Newcastle)
VALBUENA (Marseille)

No.

But they'll likely fare better than us. Even IF we survive the group stage (which, admiddetly, is not that unlikely, but will be hard for our squad), it'll presumably be as #2 behind Spain (or Chili, whatever). Which means a 1/8th final against Brazil.


Also, have you heard the German slogan on their bus?

Oooohh but I didn't know that!! Man, all those slogans are terrible but the German one indeed takes the cake. Fucking disgraceful!

Real men wear orange!!

So how's this Nasri thing going?

Doel: Jasper Cillessen (Ajax), Tim Krul (Newcastle United), Michel Vorm (Swansea City)

Verdediging: Daley Blind (Ajax), Daryl Janmaat (Feyenoord), Terence Kongolo (Feyenoord), Bruno Martins Indi (Feyenoord), Joël Veltman (Ajax), Paul Verhaegh (FC Augsburg), Ron Vlaar (Aston Villa), Stefan de Vrij (Feyenoord)

Middenveld: Jordy Clasie (Feyenoord), Leroy Fer (Norwich City), Jonathan de Guzman (Swansea City), Nigel de Jong (AC Milan), Wesley Sneijder (Galatasaray), Georginio Wijnaldum (PSV)

Aanval: Memphis Depay (PSV), Klaas Jan Huntelaar (Schalke 04), Dirk Kuyt (Fenerbahçe), Jeremain Lens (Dinamo Kiev), Robin van Persie (Manchester United) en Arjen Robben (Bayern München).

I won't be completely surprised, but will indeed be happy if we make it through the group stage. Spain is of course a force to be reckoned with. I'm glad we've got them in the first match, usually that's not their best and if we lose it, we'll know what to do.

Chili is supposed to be real good, but they've got only two or three really great players, but not all of those are fit to play. And Australia is usually quite tough.

That said, I'm hoping for 5 or 6 points and then an 1/8th against Brasil. Well, I'm HOPING to become first in the group and not meet Brasil, but that'd be stretching it a bit.

And likely the squad will be:

MGM wrote:So how's this Nasri thing going?

He is out of the squad so it went very well. He has never been any good with the French team and he is no team player. Good riddance.

MGM wrote:Doel: Jasper Cillessen (Ajax), Tim Krul (Newcastle United), Michel Vorm (Swansea City)

Verdediging: Daley Blind (Ajax), Daryl Janmaat (Feyenoord), Terence Kongolo (Feyenoord), Bruno Martins Indi (Feyenoord), Joël Veltman (Ajax), Paul Verhaegh (FC Augsburg), Ron Vlaar (Aston Villa), Stefan de Vrij (Feyenoord)

Middenveld: Jordy Clasie (Feyenoord), Leroy Fer (Norwich City), Jonathan de Guzman (Swansea City), Nigel de Jong (AC Milan), Wesley Sneijder (Galatasaray), Georginio Wijnaldum (PSV)

Aanval: Memphis Depay (PSV), Klaas Jan Huntelaar (Schalke 04), Dirk Kuyt (Fenerbahçe), Jeremain Lens (Dinamo Kiev), Robin van Persie (Manchester United) en Arjen Robben (Bayern München).

I won't be completely surprised, but will indeed be happy if we make it through the group stage. Spain is of course a force to be reckoned with. I'm glad we've got them in the first match, usually that's not their best and if we lose it, we'll know what to do.

Chili is supposed to be real good, but they've got only two or three really great players, but not all of those are fit to play. And Australia is usually quite tough.

That said, I'm hoping for 5 or 6 points and then an 1/8th against Brasil. Well, I'm HOPING to become first in the group and not meet Brasil, but that'd be stretching it a bit.

I read Vidal for Chili won't be at 100% and he is their best player. Sanchez didn't play much with Barca this year. I'd be surprised if you don't get past group stage but then what I saw against France in the friendly wasn't very encouraging.
I am a closet Oranje fans so I hope you do well.

We won our first friendly against Norway 4-0 without Lloris, Benzema and Ribéry. We played rather well but Norway was very weak in the second half when we scored 3 goals in 15mn.

Tonight, we play Paraguay. I hope we can avoid injuries as Paraguay is usually a rough team.

Also, there are some doubts about Ribéry's physical condition. He has been bothered by back injuries for a while. He won't be out of the squad but probably not at 100% which is a shame. When not at 100%, Ribéry can be a major liability as tends to be very nervous with other players.

We played Ghana yesterday. A 1-0 victory, nothing spectacular but solid (from what I heard, I haven't seen it).

XIII wrote: I am a closet Oranje fans so I hope you do well.

I dunno, it's the weakest squad in 30 years.

1-1 against Paraguay. Still no Ribéry, a TV channel even rumored that he will soon announce he is giving up and not doing the World Cup. This is the kind of drama that can screw up your build-up to the WC so I hope it won't affect the squad too much.

Nice goal by Griezmann.

Little question : this Strootman that got injured against France, was he really that good? the French commentators made it sound like he was your best player.

He was very important, I believe he was named one of the top 5 players in Italy this year, despite not having played half the season.

He's not our best player, but we will miss him. He's developed himself like crazy, I think only two years ago he played in our second league.

The Ribéry drama continues!
According to the latest rumor, Ribéry and Deschamps have a secret agreement (not so secret it seems) : if Ribéry still can't play against Jamaica on Sunday, our last friendly before flying to Brazil, he will pull out of the squad.

In that case, Deschamps would call either Lacazette (Lyon topscorer this season) or Cabella (Montpellier). They both have relatively small experience of international games.

That's be quite a loss.

The amount of top players that aren't playing or are hopefull that they can play is getting quite big.

Yeah, Suarez, Vidal, Ribéry, Falcao, Ronaldo...
Maybe this could be the World Cup for the underdogs. I consider France the n°1 underdog.

You've got a good team. With a bit of luck, you could go far.

You always need luck to go far, anyway.

And on it goes.
Lyon midfielder Clément Grenier had been injured for most of Spring (groin strain) but he had managed to come back in time to make the list. It seems he pulled his adductors yesterday in the training session and will probably pull out of the squad. It should be either Schneiderlin (Southampton) or Cabella (Montpellier) that should replace him. Again, very "green" players when it comes to international games.
Grenier was starting eleven materiel but he has always been good when he came on and he was a major asset for free kicks. Quite a shame for him.

The official picture, including Ribéry and Grenier, though Grenier withdrawal will be officialized this afternoon.