Dacourt and Gallas get the call
Thursday, October 3, 2002
Article summary
Olivier Dacourt and William Gallas were today handed France call-ups, but there was again no place in Jacques Santini's squad for Nicolas Anelka.
Article body
Upcoming qualifiers
Centre-back Gallas has never been capped at senior level, but could play a part in the upcoming EURO 2004™ qualifiers against Slovenia and Malta.
Surprise inclusion
The inclusion of Dacourt is a surprise, as he has not featured in either of Santini's squads and has just three caps. Anelka, meanwhile, has scored four goals for Manchester City FC in the opening weeks of the English Premiership season, but that has not been enough to impress Santini.
Four strikers
With AJ Auxerre's Djibril Cissé out through injury, the coach chose to name just four strikers - Thierry Henry, Sylvain Wiltord, Sidney Govou and Steve Marlet.
Henry hamstring
Anelka has now been left out of Santini's first three squads, though Santini may consider bringing him in if Henry fails to recover from a hamstring injury he picked up for Arsenal FC in the UEFA Champions League last night.
Christanval omission
Defender Philippe Christanval is omitted despite playing in the 2-1 defeat of Cyprus that opened France's EURO 2004™ campaign last month. The injured pair of Emmanuel Petit and Bixente Lizarazu are the other main absentees. France play Slovenia in Paris on 12 October and Malta in Valletta four days later.
France squad
Barthez, Coupet, Brechet, Desailly, Gallas, Mexes, Sagnol, Silvestre, Thuram, Carriere, Cheyrou, Dacourt, Kapo, Makelele, Vieira, Zidane, Govou, Henry, Marlet, Wiltord.
