Lyon tyros line up for France
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Article summary
Hatem Ben Arfa has joined fellow Olympique Lyonnais prodigy Karim Benzema in the France squad having been called in to replace injured forward Louis Saha.
Article body
Olympique Lyonnais winger Hatem Ben Arfa has been called up to the France squad for the first time as a replacement for the injured Louis Saha ahead of two UEFA EURO 2008™ qualifying games.
Drafted in
Ben Arfa, a member of the 2004 UEFA European Under-17 Championship-winning squad, has been promoted from the Under-21s. The 20-year-old has appeared in five Ligue 1 games and two UEFA Champions League games this season, scoring one goal. He joins fellow Lyon youngster Karim Benzema, who scored on his France debut in March, in the national set-up. Saha had left the French squad on Tuesday evening due to a knee injury sustained while warming-up ahead of Manchester United FC's home defeat of Wigan Athletic FC on Saturday.
Crucial qualifiers
France are third in Group B and travel to the Faroe Islands on Saturday before hosting Lithuania in Nantes four days later. FC Sochaux-Montbéliard striker Julien Quercia will replace Ben Arfa in the U21 squad who play Bosnia-Herzegovina at home on Friday and then journey to Romania on Tuesday.
