What was feared has come true, Samir Nasri had to withdraw from the French squad before the South American tour. Not a huge surprise, Deschamps had anticipated this possibility in calling up Grenier from Lyon.
This does beg the question - will we see Samir in blue ever again? Not a far fetched question. After these up coming friendlies, France face Belgium in August to kick off the new season...and then they get back to work with qualifiers. Click here for the France calendar. Clearly Deschamps will be looking at that Belgium match to get his troops ready for the final push to Brazil. He will likely be looking at having to endure a home/away playoff, since I doubt Spain will slip up and allow France to take back first place in the group. With that in mind, will Deschamps look to "test" Nasri? And is there space on the roster? With the likes of Ribery, Menez, Valbuena, Sissoko, Cabaye, Matuidi all certain locks will Nasri have a spot? Conceivably no. Especially if Gourcuff shows some of his old form in South America. It is not outside of the realm of possibility that if France do not qualify for the World Cup that a new manager will be in place and potentially will look to completely rebuild and cut all ties to the current generation. If France do qualify, it might very well be done without Nasri...and therefore difficult to envision him being called back for a trip to Brazil.
Of course one never knows...never say never. But, based on Nasri's history with Les Bleus it is not certain he will be back.
No comments:
Post a Comment