The biggest news is the medical update on Bafetimbi Gomis. Two days ago at Guingamp, Gomis collapsed during practice with the France squad. He was out for a minute or two but revived enough to walk out of the field. He apparently felt fine afterward, and though the team doctor insisted he stay off his feet for the rest of the day – and though his fellow players were scared shitless – he’s been cleared to go back to full training today.

Gomis periodically suffers from Vasogoval episodes, which is a malaise of the vagus nerve. Certain situations can trigger attacks, which is stress, in Gomis’s case. Jean-Michel Aulas raised the red flag stating how alarmed he is over Gomis’s health – this is his third attack since joining Lyon – but Emmanuel Ohrant, OL’s club doctor, says that Gomis is just fine. His health is carefully monitored, and he does not have any heart problems, which is the number one worry in these situations. He undergoes frequent medical checkups, and so far, the club is satisfied with the state of his health. Ohrant even points out that not only were Lyon aware of this issue before they signed Gomis, but that St. Etienne knew about it before they offered him a pro contract, so it is clearly not that much cause for concern.

All the same, it’s still scary to think about, especially when footballer deaths seem to be occurring on an almost yearly basis. While I do trust both OL and Le Bleus when they say that Gomis is fine, it’ll take a long time before this picture is wiped from my memory.

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Here is a quick run down of all the international action involving OL players.

France (vs. Faroe Islands – 10/10/09, vs. Austia – 10/14/09): Jeremy Toulalan, Hugo Lloris, Sidney Govou, Bafetimbi Gomis.

France U21 (vs. Netherlands – 10/09/09, vs. Belgium(h) – 10/12/09, vs. Belgium (a) – 10/14/09): Clement Grenier, Yannis Tafer, Thimothée Kolodziecziak, Alexandre Lacazette

Cameroon (vs. Togo – 10/10/09, vs. Angola – 10/14/09): Jean II Makoun

Sweden (vs. Denmark – 10/10/09, vs. Albania – 10/14/09): Kim Kallstrom

Bosnia (vs. Estonia – 10/10/09, vs. Spain – 10/14/09): Miralem Pjanic

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On to the good news. OL Féminines, who are participating in Europe for the third year in a row, defeated Serbian club Masinac to reach the Round of 16 in the UEFA Women’s Champions League. The ladies defeated Masinac 1-0 at home and then beat them 5-0 away (check out this link on the main webpage for lots of pictures). They’ll be facing Danish side Fortuna Hjørring in the next round. For those of you who keep track of women’s football, UEFA overhauled this tournament, renaming it from the previous moniker, the Women’s Cup, and also changing around the format so that it was closer to the men’s format.

I’m also pleased to report that Aulas continues to take OL Féminines seriously – not only is he still continuing to let them use the Stade de Gerland for their European and major domestic matches, but he’s continuing his policy of aggressive recruiting and extensive financial support. Many of the women are now on pro-contract, and he’s trying to lure in more players from abroad. The latest target is Kolbotn’s goalkeeper and Norweigian international Christine Colombo Nilsen, who is being considered to replace Sarah Bouhaddi, France’s #1 gk. Bouhaddi herself was brought on this past summer (ironically to replace Bente Nordby, Norway’s previous #1), but due to an injury she picked up, she’ll be out for six months.

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The FFF had a great article on its website about the long standing friendship between Yannis Tafer and Clement Grenier, two of the youth players Puel is integrating into the senior squad. The article provides a nice look into their experiences and insights of growing up together in Lyon’s training center. Reading it, I got the feeling that these two are being groomed as the next Karim Benzema/Hatem Ben Arfa duo, which would be great on one hand, but on the other hand (all that ~dramah~), maybe it’d be better to let the boys grow up without the shadows of their currently troubled predecessors looming over them.

*Bonus question: Who is the next Samir Nasri to complete the latest golden trio?

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And since we’re on the subject of young prodigies, I’m sure you’ve all heard by now of Karim Benzema’s now famous interview in which he admitted to not trying very hard for both France and Lyon. He also blamed Claude Puel as the reason for his leaving (yeah right). Raymond Domenech is pissed while Jean-mimi is patting himself on the back for getting rid of Benzema before his megalomania began taking serious effect – and for 35 million euros, no less.

I’m rather sad about Benzema’s words because until last season, he was such a hard working and humble kid. He loved OL, and we loved him. But the press and stardom got to him, and pretty soon he was thinking that he was bigger than the club. Regardless of that, I was still upset to see him leave this past summer, but it looks like Lyon’s strategy of cutting loose players has once again worked out. Because for all of Benzema’s talents, his attitude would have further poisoned the atmosphere among the players, and no amount of goals would make that worthwhile (plus, it’s not like Benzema was all that great last season anyway). It was time for him to leave and time for OL to lose their dependence on him.

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Hugo Lloris has been voted September’s Player of the Month by the L’Union Nationale des Footballeurs Professionnels (UNFP). Lloris beat out team mate Bafetimbi Gomis and Bordeaux’s Alou Diarra. I don’t think there’s anyone out there who can say that Lloris doesn’t deserve it – he’s been the best player in L1 this past month, and his performances in the Champions League have been equally impressive. Despite picking up a harsh red card against Serbia during France’s WC qualifiers this past month, he still remains an integral part of Domenech’s plans, and most expect him to continue being the first gk choice over Steve Mandanda.

Buttttttttt…

I happened to watch Lloris’s latest interview on the FFF website, and wow, that was cringe-worthy. Somehow, he’s managed to pick up Jeremy Toulalan’s bad camera habits. The poor boy can’t stop touching his face (nor can he look into the camera) during his less than three minute interview. The entire time I was watching it, I was having nightmare flashbacks to this video. You all know how much I adore both Lloris and Toulalan, but really, someone needs to tie their hands down and keep their eyes up any time they give an interview.

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Lyon’s new stadium, which still hasn’t left the drawing board yet, has been officially selected by France’s Euro 2016 committee as one of the 12 sites for the games. While France hasn’t officially been named as hosts, their competitors are Sweden/Norway, Turkey, and Italy. The first two have never hosted the Euros while Italy’s financial situation is rather dire at the moment, which makes France the favorites.

Aulas is hoping to get the final plans approved, though the stadium being selected as part of the tournament will no doubt speed the process along. The costs have jumped up another one hundred million, raising the estimated costs to 350 million euros. In addition, Aulas is working with the city to address the issue of accessibility to the new stadium site, which is the biggest concern among those opposed to the project.

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And to cap off this massive post, here are the latest transfer fallacies blurbs.

*Inter Milan is keeping tabs on Jeremy Toulalan and may make a move for him either this January or the next summer. They need to replace their aging DMs, and France has proved to be the best source of those. While I’m tempted to brush this off, I worry over how long we’ll be able to keep Toulalan, who said that he has no plans to leave any time soon and definitely not until after the World Cup. Personally, he’s one of the players I want to keep at OL for life, and so hopefully Aulas will do whatever it takes to keep Toulalan at Lyon.

*At least Ederson has denied that he’s tempted by the cow eyes that Inter has also been making at him, though unlike Toulalan, I don’t anticipate Ederson to stay at OL for more than another two years or so. For now, Ederson is happy at OL (though he is chafing at losing his starting place), but Inter have been following him for over a season, and Jose Mourinho is no stranger when it comes to buying expensive players from OL.

*Manchester City’s interest in Miralem Pjanic gave me a good laugh. If Pjanic leaves, it won’t be for a while and not for Manchester City. And DEFINITELY not for 5 million pounds.

*Marouane Chamakh has finally put an end to rumors of a potential move to Lyon. In all honesty, this hasn’t been a serious option for the past few years, but Aulas really likes him and has wanted him at OL for a long time. But Chamakh says that while a transfer to OL was enticing a a few seasons back, he can’t imagine playing for another French club anymore, so when he does leave Bordeaux, it’ll be for a club abroad.

*While this isn’t exactly a transfer rumor, Mathieu Bodmer said recently that he doesn’t regret changing positions from midfield to central defense. It’s a fairly lengthy interview full of details, but the salient points are that he gets more playing time as a CB and that his bust up with Puel (which occurred before he left Lille, a full year before Puel followed him to Lyon) is old history, and that the two have a completely professional relationship. Which basically means that Puel is on the bottom of his Christmas card list. But at least Bodmer isn’t trying to move to another club, which is often the case when players are forced to play in positions they don’t really like.

First off, it’s INTERNATIONAL TIME!!! That’s good news and bad. Good because some players get some rest, bad because others get worked even harder. The list of players don’t contain surprises, but it’s a smaller group of players this time thanks to injuries (Francois Clerc, Sidney Govou, John Mensah) and the fact that some countries don’t have friendlies scheduled despite the international break (Miralem Pjanic).

The call ups:

France (vs. Messi Argentina – 2/11/09): Jeremy Toulalan, Karim Benzema, Hugo Lloris, Jean-Alain Boumsong (who actually deserves it, no joke guys).

Cameroon (vs. Guinea, 2/11/09): Jean II Makoun

Côte d’Ivoire (vs. Turkey, 2/11/09): Kader Keita

Sweden (vs. Austria, 2/11/09): Kim Kallstrom

Italy (vs. Brazil, 2/10/09): Fabio Grosso *

* This game already took place today, but I forgot that Italy was playing a day earlier than everyone else. Oops. By the way, Italy lost 2-0, and Grosso – the sole Italian scorer – had his goal discounted. Poor guy.

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John Mensah has made the African Finest XI, a list based on the votes of the coaches of the 53 teams that make up the Confederation of African football. Our favorite Glass Ghanean joins an all star cast that includes Samuel Eto’o, Michael Essien, Mohammed Aboutreika, Emmanuel Adebayor, Yaya Toure, and Taye Taiwo.

What I’d like to know is what games the voters were watching, because I can count on one hand how many times John Mensah has played this year. Even before arriving at Lyon, he was oft-injured at Rennes, and his fitness was so-so during Ghana’s African Cup of Nations campaign (I should know, I blogged for Ghana during that month). Even his NT coach is frustrated by his injuries. So I’m just a little bit confused on how Mensah got into such an exclusive list. Was it his muscles? His personality? His smile?!?!?!

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Kader Keita crashed his Lamborghini into a van yesterday while on the way to the airport to join his NT teammates. Thankfully, no one was injured. The police checked to make sure he wasn’t taking drunk driving lessons from Sid the Kid, and once they verified that it was just a “simple” car accident, the police escorted him to the airport so he could make his flight on time.

Sigh. The life of a footballer.

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Fred is trying to leave Lyon again. Ugh.

I’m really tired of all his drama. He’s like a little kid who announces to everyone that he’s running away while secretly expecting everyone to beg him to stay. Except no one is, so he’s sulking even more than usual.

Can’t he just leave a note on his locker like everyone else?

For those of you who care, basically Fred has come to a very lucrative agreement with Fluminense. Unlike in Europe, the Brazilian mercato ends in early April, so that’s the only place he can go to right now. The Brazilian club has agreed to pay him a monthly salary of €120,000 as well as a signing bonus of €680,000. However, Fred’s agent (and brother) is claiming that the negotiations are stalled because Lyon aren’t paying Fred all the money that he’s owed (basically his performance bonuses).

However, Lyon have hit back saying that last December, Fred, in the presence of Bernard Lacombe, Jean-Michel Aulas, and club administrator Marino Faccioli, asked that he be released from his contract so that he could be sign for free in Brazil, and in return, the club wouldn’t have to pay him any of the bonuses stipulated in his contact.

Except now, Fred is demanding those bonuses, and Lyon won’t budge. The club’s official comment was that they find his lapse in memory ironic.

Ironic is a polite way of saying something much more foul, if you ask me. It says a lot that Puel, who besides Karim Benzema, doesn’t have any other serious option up front, is willing to let Fred leave halfway through the season despite the fact that the title race is in full swing.

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Hugo: Ederson left me for the Brazilians.
Jeremy: That’s okay, I’ll be your new BFF!
Hugo: Yay! First thing we’ll do is get you a better wardrobe.
Inara: Awww. Cute. *Cuddle*
Karim: *Embarrassed* I can’t believe I have to sit next to the dorky old people. This is so totally hurting my ~hip~ image.

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And since we’re on the subject of overly dramatic strikers, Karim Benzema has softened his previous words (when he said that he would probably leave if Lyon got kicked out of the CL knockout rounds) by saying that he’s happy at Lyon, and that most likely, he’ll stay until the World Cup. But he was careful to also say that he’ll take a long look at his situation this summer, taking Lyon’s CL campaign into account. Comments from his BFF Eric Abidal might have had something to do with his recent about-face.

If Benzema does leave, there is at least one striker who wouldn’t mind coming to Lyon. Loic Remy, despite having a great season with Nice, has never lost his desire for making an impact at his childhood club, and he admitted that should an offer come, he wouldn’t be averse to it. This comes on the heels of the news that there is a buyout clause in his contract just for Lyon.

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And in somewhat good news, Mathieu Bodmer (remember him?) played with the CFAs this weekend, his first real game in months. Francois Clerc was also supposed to play, but at the last minute the club doctor decided to wait a while longer, especially since knee injuries are in danger of relapses if they are not properly healed.

Pretty soon OL will be signing token Chinese players a la Manchester United.

The Chinese version of the website is making almost all the French information available, with the exception of OL Web TV. But everything else is there – the articles, news briefs, squad information, match results, advertisements…there’s even a fanzone with an interactive forum.

I’m actually a little jealous since the Chinese version of the website is a lot better than the English one, which has half the articles and not much else. But Aulas is serious about expanding into the Chinese market, and I’m sure this summer there will be a tour or two in Asia.

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In other news, Lyon played their last group match in the UEFA Women’s Cup against Arsenal Ladies. Both teams had already qualified for the quarterfinals, so yesterday’s match only settled who would top the group (which is important because it would determine who they faced in the next round). Lyon topped the table thanks to goal difference (15:1 vs. 13:2), so they only needed a draw to win the group. But Arsenal, who are England’s strongest women’s team and winners of the Cup two years ago, were Lyon’s toughest opponents this year so far, and there was the fear that Lyon weren’t adequately prepared for the match.

It’s rare when a French club has the upper hand when it comes to the English.

However, that turned out to be moot because Lyon dominated the match from start to finish. Arsenal rarely had the ball and floundered in the midst of Lyon’s fluid style of play. Lotta Schelin scored the first goal in the 27th minute, Camille Abily added the second at the 76th, and then Schelin added the third in the 80th minute. Louisa Necib also played very well. I’m quite sure Aulas, who was sitting in the stands with Puel, Fred, and Juninho, was not regretting the amount of money Lyon have spent on their new Swedish striker, and no doubt he is planning similar rewarding contracts for his other good players.

I have to say, I was REALLY impressed with yesterday’s game. As much as I support women’s football, I don’t really watch it because their game isn’t as high quality as the men’s. But yesterday was some of the prettiest football I’ve seen in a long time, full of skill and talent, and I wasn’t bored once. In fact, I forgot at some moments that I was watching the ladies! They played a lot better than the men have in recent games, at any rate, something even acknowledged by Juninho. So if you are ever in France, stop by a game of theirs. The tickets are really cheap (something like 4 euros), and it’s fun to watch.

As group winners, Lyon will be facing the runners-up of Group B2, Bardolino Verona, while Arsenal will face Umeå in the quarterfinals.

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International week is almost over. Most players have returned to the club, with the exception of Hugo Lloris and Anthony Mounier, who are at this very moment playing in a crucial U21 match against Germany. Both countries are fighting for a spot in the final tournament. France tied Germany 1-1 away, so they have the slight advantage in the home leg. But they have to play to win because Germany is a dangerous team. Miralem Pjanic, who has a match against Armenia later today, and John Mensah, who will be facing South Africa in a friendly this evening, will also be returning tomorrow.

The results of the other internationals are lukewarm. France’s World Cup qualifier against Romania ended in a 2-2 draw. Jeremy Toulalan and Jean-Alain Boumsong starting the match, and Karim Benzema came on in the second half. The draw puts France in third place in their group, behind Serbia and Austria (!!). Yesterday, France played in a friendly against Tunisia, which they eventually won 3-1. Toulalan, Boumsong, and Benzema started the match, with Benzema scoring the third goal. In both games, France came from behind.

Awww.

The cool news is that Toulalan received the captain’s armband from Thierry Henry, despite more senior players being on the pitch. It’s a very big deal and it establishes him in the hierarchy behind Vieira, Henry, and Gallas. And considering that those three are injured every other week, it’s a fair bet we’ll be seeing Toulalan captain France more often.

Jean II Makoun scored in Cameroon’s 5-0 over Mauritius. Kim Kallstrom, who started for Sweden, could only manage a scoreless draw against Portugal. John Mensah’s Ghana booked a place in the next round of FIFA World Cup qualifiers after a 3-0 win over Lesotho. Bosnia-Herzegovina lost 2-1 to Turkey, with Miralem Pjanic coming off the bench in the 80th minute.

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Fabio Grosso is back in training and is expected to play against Lille on October 18th. This is good news because if he does well, he play against Steaua a few days later. Kader Keita is also training normally, and Cesar Delgado (remember him?) is starting light training.

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Our beloved Jean-mimi has threatened to leave Lyon if stadium plans continue to stall. Originally, construction on OL Land was supposed to begin June 2008 – which was almost five months ago. Now it’s looking like the earliest construction can start would be June 2010 – which was when the stadium was scheduled for completion.

The reason for the delay is due to a few upstart groups who don’t want a stadium near their neighborhood for fear of extra traffic and noise. Unfortunately, this handful of people have the support of some obnoxious city officials, who are holding up the paperwork.

I for one don’t think Aulas is making an idle threat. He’s right in that Lyon have peaked as much as they can under current conditions, and the next logical step is a new stadium. Every year that there is a delay, Aulas will be forced to sell off players to make up for the increased revenue he could potentionally be earning from increased ticketing and marketing, and that in turn pushes back Lyon’s entrance into the Big Boyz Club.

If Aulas does leave, it would be catastrophic, not just for OL, but for the whole of French Football and even for the city of Lyon. People hate him outside of OL, but he is responsible for helping modernize French football and raising the standards across the entire league. Any other club would be damn lucky to have him.

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Laurie has already covered this on the main page, but matters between the UNFP (the players union) and the UCPF (the club management union) are threatening to boil over. What has their knickers in a twist is the proposed makeup of the LFP’s management board, which currently features 12 club presidents amongst the 25 members. The UCFP, backed by the LFP, is demanding that the number of club presidents on the board be increased to 14, which is something that UNFP doesn’t want because that might mean further changes to the season’s calendar and the clubs’ payroll.

The UNFP is threatening to go on strike the weekend of October 24th if the LFP continues to push this matter, so things could get ugly. Remy Vercoutre, who is the representative of the Lyon players to the UNFP, has confirmed that all the players have unanimously agreed that they would go on strike if necessary.

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OL Féminines have gotten to a fantastic start, both domestically and in Europe. They are currently topping Division 1 (the women’s topflight) with five wins and one draw and 25 goals scored and only two conceded. However, their rivals Montpellier are right on their heels with only one less point.

Today the ladies started their UEFA Women’s Cup campaign (they were seeded directly into the second qualifying phase) with an 8-0 victory over Austrian side Neulengbach. Goals were scored by Camille Abily (8, 77), Louisa Necib (10, 43), Lotta Schelin (12), Sonia Bompastor (18), Laura Georges (37), and Elodie Thomis (40).

Their next opponents will be FC Zurich on Saturday and then Arsenal on Tuesday. If Lyon win their next match, which they are likely to do, they will pretty much be qualified for the quarterfinals, though they will want to win all three matches so that they can win the group and therefore be paired with another group’s runner up for the next round.

All games in Lyon’s group for this stage of the competition are taking place in Lyon. OL Féminines are playing all their matches at the Gerland, and the other group matches are taking place in one of the smaller Lyon stadiums.

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Chelsea’s website posted an interview of Florent Malouda, who had some nice things to say about Lyon and the future of the club, so check it out here.

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And speaking of interviews, the LFP also posted a selection of interviews from the various clubs interested in Karim Benzema, among them Manchester United, Inter Milan and Barcelona, who recently admitted that their bid for him this summer had been rejected.

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Anthony Mounier – who some of us predicted would have his breakout year this season – is currently the latest media darling. In fact, he’s been getting more attention than Karim Benzema in recent weeks! Claude Puel says that if he continues to improve, he may earn a starting spot (thereby making Lyon’s entire forward line homegrown). Mounier has even caught the attention of Raymond Domenech, who told Mounier that if he could play more regularly, he might even find himself on the way to South Africa in two years.

Mounier on the other hand isn’t letting this get to his head. He’s aware that he’s only started a couple of games and isn’t anywhere near as consistent. But he would like to extend his contract with Lyon (it expires in 2010), so hopefully that will be taken care of soon.

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Fred has been granted leave until Friday to go to Brazil and visit his daughter. You can read the interview John posted here about the troubles in Fred’s personal life and why he often acts like he’s bipolar.

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Finally, here is the list of players away on international duty this week.

France (vs. Romania – 10/11/08, vs. Tunisia – 10/14/08): Karim Benzema, Hugo Lloris, Jeremy Toulalan, Jean-Alain Boumsong

France U21 (vs. Germany – 10/10/08, vs. Germany 10/15/08 – yes, they are playing the Germans twice): Anthony Mounier

Bosnia-Herzegovina (vs. Turkey – 10/11/08): Miralem Pjanic

Ghana (vs. Lesotho – 10/11/08): John Mensah

Cameroon (vs. Mauritius – 10/11/08): Jean II Makoun

Sweden (vs. Portugal – 10/11/08): Kim Kallstrom

France (vs. Sweden – 08/20/08): Hugo Lloris, Jean-Alain Boumsong, Jeremy Toulalan, Sidney Govou, Karim Benzema

Sweden (vs. France – 08/20/08): Kim Kallstrom

Czech Republic (vs. England – 08/20/08): Milan Baros

Bosnia and Herzegovina (vs. Bulgaria – 08/20/08): Miralem Pjanic

Cameroon (vs. Oman – 08/20/08): Jean II Makoun

Ivory Coast (vs. Guinea – 08/20/08): Kader Keita

Italy (vs. Austria – 08/20/08): TBA on Fabio Grosso

Ghana (vs. Tanzania – 08/20/08): TBA on John Mensah

France U19 (Training Camp, 08/26/08-08/28/08): Mathieu Gorgelin, Saïd Mehamha, Romain Miguet

France U18 (Training Camp, 08/25/08-08/28/08): Sébastien Fauré, Clément Grenier, Yannis Tafer

France U17 (Training Camp, 08/26/08-08/28/08): Harry Novillo

France U16 (Training Camp, 08/25/08-08/28/08): Nassim Torche, Gaëtan Marchant

France Féminines (Training Camp, 08/25/08-08/28/08): Sonia Bompastor, Sandrine Dusang, Laura Georges, Camille Abily, Corine Franco, Louisa Nécib, Elodie Thomis, Sandrine Brétigny

Brazil Women (Olympics Quarterfinals, vs. Norway – 08/15/08): Simone Gomes Jatoba

Switzerland Women (vs. Holland, 08/28/08): Lara Dickenmann

France Féminines U21 (Training Camp): Emmeline Mainguy, Véronique Pons, Emilie Gonssollin, Alix Faye-Chellali

France Féminines U17 (Training Camp): Ophélie Brevet, Maeva Clemaron, Cloé Faillant, Julie Perrodin, Anaïs Ribeyra

I have nine other identical pictures just like this.

To recap:

SWEDEN: Final standing: 3rd, 3 points

Greece 0 – 2 Sweden
Sweden 1 – 2 Spain
Russia 2 – 0 Sweden

Kim Kallstrom: Inexplicably benched for Daniel Andersson of Malmo, Kallstrom played for 45 minutes…total. He came on towards the very end against Spain and early in the second half against Russia. Maybe that’s why Sweden, who only needed a draw against Russia to progress to the quarterfinals, lost in humiliating fashion and will be watching the rest of the tournament on television.

SWITZERLAND: Final standing: 4th, 3 points

Switzerland 0 – 1 Czech Republic
Switzerland 1 – 2 Turkey
Switzerland 2 – 0 Portugal

Patrick Muller: Muller played every single minute in all of Switzerland’s group stage matches. For the most part, he and the rest of his team performed above and beyond expectations as Switzerland were REALLY unlucky not to progress since they played better than most of their group. But several bad refereeing decisions and losing Alex Frei early in the tournament pretty much doomed them from the start.

CZECH REPUBLIC: Final standing: 3rd, 3 points

Switzerland 0 – 1 Czech Republic
Czech Republic 1 – 3 Portugal
Turkey 3 – 2 Czech Republic

Milan Baros: He only played in one of Czech Republic’s matches, and that was against Portugal, where he played for the entire game. I happened to be watching that game, and I’ve come to the conclusion that he only plays well for his national team. Baros played with more enthusiasm and energy in that one match against Portugal than he has in an entire year at Lyon. That being said, Czech Republic would have been in the quarterfinals if they hadn’t handed over a two goal lead to Turkey, who scored three goals in the last 15 minutes.

ITALY: Final standing: 2nd, 4 points

Netherlands 3 – 0 Italy
Italy 1 – 1 Romania
France 0 – 2 Italy

Fabio Grosso: The only OL player who is actually having a good tournament. Once again, Grosso is proving that he plays better in Azzurri blue than in Lyon white (see: Milan Baros). Appearing in all three games, he came on as a second half sub in Italy’s disastrous encounter against the Netherlands but started the two other matches. He’s played well in all his appearances so far and will probably be in the starting XI in Italy’s quarterfinal match up against Spain. From what I hear, Grosso has possibly been the best Italian player so far – and to think that no one in Italy wanted to sign him from Inter last summer.

FRANCE: Final standing: 4th, 1 point

Romania 0 – 0 France
Netherlands 4 – 1 France
France 0 – 2 Italy

It’s fair to say that every single French player had at best a mediocre tournament. No one stood out, not even Franck Ribery, who was unfortunate to pick up an injury in the early minutes in the game against Italy. It’s also fair to say that France are solely responsible for ending last in their group – they scored only one goal and gained only one point. They created nothing in the game against Romania, several collective errors saw them ass-raped by the Dutch, and both Italian goals were scored because of retardedness by French players – Abidal gave away a penalty and Thierry Henry deflected the other goal into his own net.

Gregory Coupet: He had a tournament to forget. Well, that’s a bit harsh. He didn’t have anything to do against Romania, and against Italy, he played really well. If it hadn’t been for Coupet, Italy would have beaten France by four or five goals. Unfortunately, most of us will remember his match against the Netherlands, where he conceded four goals. Two of those goals, he probably couldn’t do anything about, but the other two…very disappointing. He is a world class goalkeeper and rarely if ever makes errors, so I don’t know what that was about. But it was as if he had reverted to his form right after he returned from injury, back in January.

Francois Clerc: Benched for the first two games, after Willy Sagnol’s poor performances, he started against Italy. Like all other players in that game, it’s hard to gauge exactly how he did since the entire team was in chaos after Eric Abidal’s explusion, but I thought he did fairly well. Offensively, he didn’t contribute much, but with only ten players on the pitch, I’m pretty sure Domenech told Clerc to stay back. But defensively, he was really solid, except for his foul on Antonio Cassano (which indirectly led to the second goal).

Jean-Alain Boumsong: He was never intended to be anything except a bench player, which is why he didn’t play at all in the first two matches, and why Abidal was preferred to him when Domenech decided to bench Lilian Thuram. However, once Abidal was sent off, Domenech called up Boumsong, who I thought was actually more reassuring than William Gallas.

Sebastien Squillaci: Didn’t play for a single minute in the entire tournament. Was probably shocked to see Boumsong selected ahead of him when Abidal’s spot needed cover.

Jeremy Toulalan: Since Patrick Vieira failed to regain fitness, Toulalan played in every minute of France’s group stage matches. He did his job to perfection, which was keeping things tight in the midfield. Combative, he and Makelele were the reason that the other teams had to utilize the flanks to get past those two. However, Toulalan drew a lot of criticism for his lack of offensive activity – even his long passes were so-so.

Sidney Govou: He didn’t play against Romania, but started against Netherlands and Italy. And like always, his performances were all across the board. Against the Dutch, Govou was a significant attacking threat and looked closet to scoring, but like always, squandered those chances. Against Italy, he was not a threat and was substituted out early in the second half.

Karim Benzema: This wasn’t the tournament Benzema was hoping for – or expecting. He was supposed to pull a Wayne Rooney circa 2004, but unfortunately, Benzema will have to wait until World Cup 2010 to assert his international dominance. Against Romania, Benzema was played totally out of position and was forced to act more like an attacking midfielder than a striker. He didn’t play at all against the Netherlands – supposedly Domenech was unhappy at his arrogance and Makelele took Benzema to task after that loss in the locker rooms. It’s an unsubstantiated rumor, but one I can believe. Benzema was put back into the starting lineup against Italy, and though he had some good moments and was probably the biggest attacking threat, with one man down, Benzema was once again forced on the left to help compensate defensively.

I think everyone who reads this blog knows that I’ve had my heart set on Lloris since like forever. He’s my dream signing. He’s the guy that can help complete Lyon’s squad. And goalkeepers don’t get much more perfect than him.

The logical decision for Lloris is to come to Lyon. At 21 years of age, he admitted that it would be better for him to stay in France than go somewhere foreign. Plus Lyon will be the Champions League while Milan will be competing in the glorious UEFA Cup.

He also has to go someplace where he can overtake Steve Mandanda in the France NT pecking order (every French Lyon player gets selected buy Raymond Domenech…it’s part of the Holy Scripture). All he has to do is see who was called up for Euro 2008 today to get the picture.

Even Gregory Coupet called Lloris the best possible successor for him. And Coupet isn’t one to give praise lightly.

Unfortunately, Lyon couldn’t start talking to Lloris until Coupet confirmed that he was going to leave. That gave Milan a lot of time to sweeten the pot – and let’s get real, 99.5 percent of the time, Milan > Lyon. By the time Lyon contacted Lloris, rumor was that he had already come to personal terms with Milan.

But the battle isn’t over yet. Milan are in a bit of a sticky situation in that they already have four goalkeepers in their squad. Dida refuses to leave until the end of his contract, Christian Abbiati just returned from loan at Atletico, Zeljko Kalac looks to be staying, and no one even knows who Valerio Fiori is. So before they can get Lloris, they have to offload at least one keeper (word on the street is that Milan are trying to give Dida to Nice…that’s good news for the other 19 L1 squads).

Lyon have offered 10m for Lloris, which is one million more than Nice’s asking price, while Milan have offered only 7m, which is two million less than what Nice want. But the final decision is up to Lloris.

Let’s hope he makes the right one.

In other news, final squads have been announced for Euro 2008. Lyon are the club contributing the most players with 11 participating in the tournament. See full list here.

France: Gregory Coupet, Francois Clerc, Jean-Alain Boumsong, Sebastien Squillaci, Jeremy Toulalan, Sidney Govou, Karim Benzema.

Italy: Fabio Grosso.

Sweden: Kim Kallstrom.

Switzerland: Patrick Muller. YAY!!!

Czech Republic: Milan Baros.

You gotta feel for Hatem Ben Arfa, who is the only pre-selected Lyon player who failed to make the final cut. Unfortunately for him, Bafetimbi Gomis and Samir Nasri had terrific games yesterday, so there was no room for him. This is surely the nail in the coffin for him. I can’t imagine him even considering staying at Lyon any longer after the last two crappy months he’s had..

I imagine the traditional trip to Tignes will occur at the beginning of July, and perhaps there will be some friendlies thrown in towards the end. I’ll be sure to post that information as soon as it’s released. Also, the date of the Trophée des Champions has not been released. The game will feature Lyon and Bordeaux.

In the list below, I’ve included not just the dates for the league matches, but also all the dates for the Coupe de France, Coupe de la Ligue, and Champions League. Naturally Lyon will win all those games and bring home that quadruple. Duh. Also included are the relevant international fixtures that take place before the 2008-2009 season officially starts. So there will be lots of footy to keep you guys occupied for the next 365 days.

See the full list after the jump.

Pre-Season

05/24/08 – Switzerland vs. Slovakia – Friendly @ Lugano

05/26/08 – Sweden vs. Slovakia – Friendly @ Gothenburg

05/27/08 – Czech Republic vs. Lithuania @ Prague; France vs. Ecuador @ Grenoble

05/30/08 – Al Shabab vs. Lyon – Friendly @ Dubai; Italy vs. Belgium – Friendly @ Florence

05/31/08 – France vs. Paraguay - Friendly @ Toulouse

06/01/08 – Côte d’Ivoire vs. Mozambique – FIFA World Cup Qualifier @ Abidjan

06/03/08 – France vs. Columbia – Friendly @ Paris

06/07/08 - Switzerland vs. Czech Republic – Euro 2008 @Basel

06/08/08 – Madagascar vs. Côte d’Ivoire – FIFA World Cup Qualifier @ Antananarivo

06/09/08 – Netherlands vs. Italy – Euro 2008 @ Berne; Romania vs. France – Euro 2008 @ Zurich

06/10/08 – Greece vs. Sweden – Euro 2008 @ Salzburg

06/11/08 – Czech Republic vs. Portugal – Euro 2008 @ Geneva; Switzerland vs. Turkey – Euro 2008 @ Basel

06/13/08 – Italy vs. Romania – Euro 2008 @ Zurich; Netherlands vs. France – Euro 2008 @ Berne

06/14/08 – Sweden vs. Spain – Euro 2008 @ Innsbruck; 06/14/08 – Botswana vs. Côte d’Ivoire – FIFA World Cup Qualifier @ Gaborone

06/15/08 – Turkey vs. Czech Republic – Euro 2008 @ Geneva; Switzerland vs. Portugal – Euro 2008 @ Basel

06/17/08 – France vs. Italy – Euro 2008 @ Zurich

06/18/08 – Russia vs. Sweden – Euro 2008 @ Innsbruck

06/19-22/08 – Quarterfinals; Côte d’Ivoire vs. Botswana – FIFA World Cup Qualifier @ Abidjan

06/25-26/08 – Euro 2008 Semifinals

06/29/08 – Euro 2008 Finals

2008/2009

J01 – 08/09/08 – Lyon vs. Toulouse
J02 – 08/16/08 – Lorient vs. Lyon
J03 – 08/23/08 – Lyon vs. Grenoble
J04 – 08/30/08 – St. Etienne vs. Lyon
J05 – 09/13/08 – Lyon vs. Nice
LdC – 09/16/08 – M1 – Lyon vs. TBA
J06 – 09/20/08 – Le Havre vs. Lyon
J07 – 09/27/08 – Lyon vs. Nancy
LdC – 09/30/08 – M2 – Lyon vs. TBA
J08 – 10/10/08 – Rennes vs. Lyon
J09 – 10/18/08 – Lyon vs. Lille
LdC – 10/21/08 – M3 – Lyon vs. TBA
J10 – 10/25/08 – Auxerre vs. Lyon
J11 – 10/29/08 – Sochaux vs. Lyon
J12 – 11/01/08 – Lyon vs. Le Mans
LdC – 11/04/08 – M4 – Lyon vs. TBA
J13 – 11/08/08 – Monaco vs. Lyon
CdL – 11/11/08 – 1/8 – Lyon vs. TBA
J14 – 11/15/08 – Lyon vs. Bordeaux
J15 – 11/22/08 – PSG vs. Lyon
LdC – 11/25/08 – M5 – Lyon vs. TBA
J16 – 11/29/08 – Lyon vs. Valenciennes
J17 – 12/06/08 – Nantes vs. Lyon
LdC – 12/09/08 – M6 – Lyon vs. TBA
J18 – 12/13/08 – Lyon vs. Marseille
J19 – 12/20/08 – Caen vs. Lyon
J20 – 01/10/09 – Lyon vs. Lorient
CdL – 01/14/09 – 1/4 – Lyon vs. TBA
J21 – 01/17/09 – Grenoble vs. Lyon
CdF – 01/24/09 – 1/16 – Lyon vs. TBA
J22 – 01/31/09 – Lyon vs. St. Etienne
CdL – 02/03/09 – 1/2 – Lyon vs. TBA
J23 – 02/07/09 – Nice vs. Lyon
J24 – 02/14/09 – Lyon vs. Le Havre
J25 – 02/21/09 – Nancy vs. Lyon
LdC – 02/24/09 – 1/8 First Leg – Lyon vs. TBA
J26 – 02/28/09 – Lyon vs. Rennes
CdF – 03/03/09 – 1/8 – Lyon vs. TBA
J27 – 03/07/09 – Lille vs. Lyon @ Stade de France
LdC – 03/10/09 – 1/8 Second Leg – Lyon vs. TBA
J28 – 03/14/09 – Lyon vs. Auxerre
CdF – 03/17/09 – 1/4 – Lyon vs. TBA
CdL – 03/21/09 – FINALE – Lyon vs. TBA
J29 – 03/22/09 – Lyon vs. Sochaux
J30 – 04/04/09 – Le Mans vs.Lyon
LdC – 04/07/09 – 1/4 First Leg – Lyon vs. TBA
J32 – 04/11/09 – Lyon vs. Monaco
LdC – 04/14/09 – 1/4 Second Leg – Lyon vs. TBA
J32 – 04/18/09 – Bordeaux vs. Lyon
CdF – 04/21/09 – 1/2 – Lyon vs. TBA
J33 – 04/25/09 – Lyon vs. PSG
LdC – 04/28/09 – 1/8 First Leg – Lyon vs. TBA
J34 – 05/02/09 – Valenciennes vs. Lyon
LdC – 05/05/09 – 1/2 Second Leg – Lyon vs. TBA
CdF – 05/09/09 – FINALE – Lyon vs. TBA
J35 – 05/13/09 – Lyon vs. Nantes
J36 – 05/16/09 – Marseille vs. Lyon
J37 – 05/23/09 – Lyon vs. Caen
LdC – 05/27/09 -FINALE – Lyon vs. TBA
J38 – 05/30/09 – Toulouse vs. Lyon

Ever since the happy news that Muller was among the Swiss call ups for Euro 2008, it’s been a race against time as he works to reach an adequate fitness level. Kobi Kuhn, Switzerland’s manager, had hoped that Muller’s participation in a friendly against Slovakia this weekend would help expedite matters. Lyon had also agreed to release Muller earlier than the other players (who are preparing for this weekend’s Coupe de France final).

Unfortunately for Kuhn, Lyon went back on their word when Jean-Alain Boumsong, Lyon’s third choice CB, pulled a muscle last week. With Cris suspended, Lyon are short of central defenders. Perrin said that in the event that Boumsong isn’t fit, then Mathieu Bodmer will play next to Sebastien Squillaci while Muller remains on the bench. Perrin did promise that the minute the doctor cleared Boumsong to play, Muller would be on the first plane to Switzerland – but that might take until late Friday.

This has Kuhn very upset because if Muller doesn’t get any playing time this weekend, he won’t be ready for the start of Euro 2008. While Kuhn would be happy to allow Muller to remain for the final, it would be only be worthwhile if he played. However, it looks unlikely Muller will take the field against PSG, so Kuhn would rather Muller return to Switzerland in order to play against Slovakia.

Switzerland don’t want to lose an experienced defender like Muller, so they are seriously looking into invoking FIFA’s 14 day release clause, which stipulates that international players must be released at least 14 days before a FIFA-approved international tournament.

Bottom line, if Muller doesn’t play this weekend – no matter for what team – then Kuhn will have no choice but to drop him from the provisional squad because UEFA’s final player submission deadline is next Wednesday. And that would be very tragic for Muller.

France: Gregory Coupet, Francois Clerc, Sebastien Squillaci, Jean-Alain Boumsong, Jeremy Toulalan, Hatem Ben Arfa, Karim Benzema, Sidney Govou (see full list here)

Italy: Fabio Grosso (see full list here)

Switzerland: Patrick Muller (see full list here)

Sweden: Kim Kallstrom (see full list here)

Czech Republic: Milan Baros (see full list here)