France Soccer

Word has come down that Marseille has agreed to a deal that will send Djibril Cisse to Panathinaikos.  The 27 year old star from the Ivory Coast has also played in England for Liverpool.  This will be a great treat for football fans in Athens and a tough loss of talent for La Ligue.

France soccer team current sits second in Group 7 Europe World Cup qualifying, two points behind Serbia.  France has already defeated Serbia, but its loss against Austria and draw with Romania are keeping it from first place in the group.  The good news for the squad is that it has two games left against winless Faroe Islands.

Samir Nasri has announced on his personal blog that he will be transferring to Arsenal.  The French national will leave Marseille for a 4-year $31.6 million deal.  Nasri has been with Marseille since age 9.  Many consider him the next Zidane, though he saw action in only one game during the Euro 2008 soccer tournament.  France soccer professional leagues will miss his play.

Former French soccer player, Zinedine Zidane seems to be jockeying for former teammate Didier Deschamps as the next coach of the France national team.  ‘It’s true someone who could replace the current coach is clearly Didier Deschamps.  He’s got everything it takes. He knows the group, he knows football very well and I think it’s quite in order for him, one day, to take over.’

It is official: Claude Puel has taken over the reins of Lyon, leaving his former team in Lille.  There has already been a lot of transition around the Lyon clubhouse after winning the French soccer championship a few weeks ago.  The move became official after weeks of rumors of the transition in the press.  Many still believe that Puel will make wholesale changes to the team in the name of Champions League success.  At the press conference Puel did note, “The important thing is (the players) have technical ability but also an unbreakable spirit.”

Wow.  Disappointing.  France exits the UEFA Euro 2008 championship with a mere 1 point and at the bottom of Group C results.

Today’s match-up was excitement filled, but none of it positive for the French national soccer team.  It started with Franck Ribery going down with a tough injury only 7 minutes in, continued with Eric Abidal being sent off a mere 18 minutes later.  The Italians dominated most of the game, especially the opening half.  If Luca Toni was more precise for Italy, the game could have easily ended 4-0.

The French national soccer team got an old fashioned whoopin’ in their second UEFA Euro 2008 game versus Netherlands.  France soccer lost to the Tangerine machine 4-1.  France took 2 more shots than Netherlands, but its opportunities were not strong and only 47% landed on net compared with 80% for the Dutch.  Henry netted the only French goal in the 71st minute to make the score 2-1, but Robben immediately answered for the Dutch the next minute.  Sneijder put it further out of reach in the 90th minute.  France still has a chance to move on, but Romania must lose to Netherlands, who is already into the quarterfinals.

France tied Romania 0-0 in the opener of the UEFA Euro 2008 soccer championship.  The tie puts France in a tough position with Netherlands trouncing Italy 3-0 in Group C play.  The game was largely dull with neither keeper playing much of a role in the outcome.  Patrick Vieira and Thierry Henry both sat out the game for France, which clearly put France in a different position than it would have liked.  France will surely need to draw points in their match-up with Netherlands on Friday.

Will I see you at Summers wearing the good ole blue cheering on France with me in this year’s Euro 2008? I got my jersey ready, do you?

Well this year at least we had an exciting finish.  The France soccer season has come to an end as Lyon has won the title yet again.  The club’s seventh title in a row came as the team defeated Auxerre 3-1.  Girondins Bordeaux could manage nothing more than a 1-1 draw at Racing Lens, but it was a moot point anyway.  Lyon will now face nearly relegated Paris Saint-Germain for the French Cup.

In more top of the Ligue excitement, Marseille earned a spot in the Champions qualifying tournament as AS Nancy Lorraine dropped another match and it managed to stay ahead of Strasbourg.  Neither team finished all that strong in France soccer play.

The final standings indicate that Lens, Strasbourg, and Metz will all be relegated to Ligue 2. Le Havre, Nantes, andGrenoble will be moving into Ligue 1.