footballspectator

Raymond Domenech and Marco van Basten each today announced the 23 players that will be representing France and Holland respectively next month in Germany.

Two surpise faces in the French squad were the uncapped duo of Pascal Chimbonda of Wigan and Franck Ribery of Olympique Marseille. While the French press have been mounting a campaign for Ribery’s inclusion, Chimbonda’s call-up is a major surprise. There was no room for either Robert Pires of Arsenal, who fell out with Domenech last year, or Ludovic Giuly of Barcelona who only recently scored the decisive goal in the Champion’s League semi-final against Milan in the San Siro.

There was a surprise in the Dutch squad also with the Eredivisie’s top scorer, Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, being demoted to the under-21 squad which takes part in this summer’s European Championships in Portugal. Van Basten challenged Huntelaar to prove him wrong with his performances in Portugal

Full Squads:

France

Goalkeepers: Fabien Barthez (Olympique Marseille), Gregory Coupet (Olympique Lyon), Mickael Landreau (Nantes)

Defenders: Eric Abidal (Olympique Lyon), Jean-Alain Boumsong (Newcastle United), Pascal Chimbonda (Wigan Athletic), William Gallas (Chelsea), Gael Givet (Monaco) Willy Sagnol (Bayern Munich), Mikael Silvestre (Manchester United), Lilian Thuram (Juventus)

Midfielders: Vikash Dhorasoo (Paris St Germain), Alou Diarra (Racing Lens), Claude Makelele (Chelsea), Florent Malouda (Olympique Lyon), Patrick Vieira (Juventus), Zinedine Zidane (Real Madrid).

Strikers: Djibril Cisse (Liverpool), Thierry Henry (Arsenal), Franck Ribery (Olympique Marseille), Louis Saha (Manchester United), David Trezeguet (Juventus), Sylvain Wiltord

Holland

Goalkeepers: Edwin van der Sar (Manchester United), Maarten Stekelenburg (Ajax Amsterdam), Henk Timmer (AZ Alkmaar).

Defenders: Kew Jaliens (AZ Alkmaar), Jan Kromkamp (Liverpool), Andre Ooijer (PSV Eindhoven), John Heitinga (Ajax Amsterdam), Khalid Boulahrouz (SV Hamburg), Joris Mathijsen (AZ Alkmaar), Giovanni van Bronckhorst (Barcelona), Tim de Cler (AZ Alkmaar).

Midfielders: Mark van Bommel (Barcelona), Philip Cocu (PSV Eindhoven), Denny Landzaat (AZ Alkmaar), Hedwiges Maduro (Ajax Amsterdam), Wesley Sneijder (Ajax Amsterdam), Rafael van der Vaart (SV Hamburg).

Strikers: Dirk Kuijt (Feyenoord), Ruud van Nistelrooy (Manchester United), Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink (PSV Eindhoven), Arjen Robben (Chelsea), Robin van Persie (Arsenal), Ryan Babel (Ajax Amsterdam).

This entry was posted on Sunday, May 14th, 2006 at 22:49 and is filed under WorldCup. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.