France national coach Raymond Domenech has opted not to go for a replacement of defensive midfielder Lassana Diarra in his squad for the 2010 FIFA World Cup finals due in South Africa in June.

Domenech revealed to the French Football Federation (FFF) that he is confident that  the 23 players he has with him at a ski resort will perform well at the finals expected to run from 11 June to 11 July.

"We thought about calling a replacement for Diarra for sometime," said Domenech, who  originally had 24 players at the camp until Diarra fell ill. "However, we are placing our confidence in the 23 players here at Tignes who are hungry to go to the World Cup finals," he said.

Diarra had been ruled out of the finals after he was diagnosed with an intestinal illness. His departure left only Lyon's Jeremy Toulalan to form Domenech's first-choice for the defense midfield partnership. Diarra played in 10 of France's 12 matches in their 2010 World Cup qualification campaign.

Having a single defense midfielder for any title contender like France is risky especially when they face technical teams like Spain, Brazil or Germany. This therefore connotes that a replacement is highly needed if France are to compete and not merely participate in the world event.     
 
Full squad

Goalkeepers: Hugo Lloris, Steve Mandanda , Cedric Carrasso, Defenders: William Gallas, Eric Abidal, Bakary Sagna , Patrice Evra , Gael Clichy , Marc Planus , Anthony Reveillere , Sebastien Squillaci , Midfielders: Abou Diaby, Alou Diarra, Yoann Gourcuff, Florent Malouda, Jeremy Toulalan, Strikers: Nicolas Anelka , Djibril Cisse, Andre-Pierre Gignac , Sidney Govou, Thierry Henry, Franck Ribery , Mathieu Valbuena
Spain drops Senna

Convalescing duo Fernando Torres and Cesc Fabregas have both been included in Spain's final 23-man squad for the 2010 FIFA World Cup due in South Africa along with the  uncapped trio of Victor Valdes, Pedro Rodriguez and Javi Martinez.

Liverpool striker Torres, and Arsenal midfielder Fabregas, are recovering from injuries that forced them to miss the end of the Premier League season but will both nevertheless go to the global finals.

Valdes got the third goalkeeping spot behind Iker Casillas and Jose Reina, while his Barcelona team-mate, winger Pedro, was included following a fine season with the Catalan giants.

Athletic Bilbao midfielder Martinez is the other newcomer in a squad that has many of the same faces that won UEFA EURO 2008.

Of Del Bosque's 30-man provisional squad for South Africa 2010, the men to miss out are goalkeepers Diego Lopez and David De Gea, defender Cesar Azpilicueta, midfielders Marcos Senna and Santi Cazorla, plus forwards Dani Guiza and Alvaro Negredo.

Full squad
Goalkeepers: Iker Casillas , Jose Reins , Victor Valdes Defenders: Raul Albiol,  Alvaro Arbeloa , Joan Capdevila, Carlos Marchena, Gerard Pique, Carles Puyol, Sergio Ramos,
Midfielders: Xabi Alonso,  Sergio Bisque's, Cesc Fabregas, Andres Iniesta, Javi Martinez,  David Silva, Xavi, Jesus Navas, Juan Manuel Mata, Pedro Rodriguez Forwards: Fernando Llorente, Fernando Torres, David Villa. blog comments powered by Disqus