POLL: France still a major world force?

[kallum]

France, have lost many good players due to retirement...zidane,thuram,des ailly and lizarazu...now I'm not saying there crap without them...but would you class them as world cup contenders without these players?

[TheWatcher]

non

[Jonny2J]

too fucken right.... lets look at the players still left in the squad

Mexes
Boumsong
Evra
Vieira
Makelele
Pires
Rothen
Giuly
Trezeguet
Henry
Cisse
Gallas
Silvestre

[kallum]

by the way...ignore the question mark on the first poll option.

[franscar]

Depends more on the management. They need to be told to play as a team, rather than a collection of gifted individuals. If they carry on playing like they did in World Cup 2002 and Euro 2004, then they'll continue to stagnate, but if they scrap the ego's and the in-fighting, then they have more than enough talent to bother the best.

[qwerty12]

What franscar said is all very true. But we all must remember one important fact: The French were Nazi collaborators in WW2. Dont trust em'. Dont you dare!

[jMz]

I hope they are finished, and we (England) take over as the next top team. That's how it should be, but doesn't always work out like that.
I'm sick of getting excited about competitions, only to see England underperform.
I think France may have had their glory days, but I'm not gonna count them out completely. They do still have some good players, but not a lot of seasoned veterans.

[Ogopa Djz]

Originally Posted by Jonny2J

too fucken right.... lets look at the players still left in the squad

Mexes
Boumsong
Evra
Vieira
Makelele
Pires
Rothen
Giuly
Trezeguet
Henry
Cisse
Gallas
Silvestre

If you dont mind me adding.
Govou
Dhorasoo

[wf27]

I don't think that there is any doubt that France are still a massive force in football. In my opinion they are sorta going through a transition period with lots of veteran players retiring and lots of young players eg. (Mexes, Cisse) are coming in. I think that it's a quite exciting time for French football at the moment.

[Jonny2J]

Originally Posted by Ogopa- Djz

If you dont mind me adding.
Govou
Dhorasoo

i dont at all

[-=[101st]=-]

i think it will take them a couple of years to be able to be where they were at.. Zidane is irreplacable.. so it will be tough. but there is a lot of quality coming through...

[Gun_Runner]

yes there is a lot of talent like......Mexes,Boumsong,Giuly ,Rothen,Pedretti etc....France will be a strong squad for WC2006 .....Brazil will win it though I think.....as i dnt think portugal will be possible contenders as Rui Costa,Figo,Couto will be retired more than likely.....Spain are never contenders ....dnt think Italy will be either ....Holland -maybe....Czech no because of Nedveds retirement from international.......Argentina possibly.......
has Rivaldo retired from international? R.Carlos will be retired from international probably by WC2006 along with Cafu who is the only player ever to play in 3world cup finals i think....i heard that durin a Brazil game in the last world cup