France embraces tomorrow's Bleus

While Karim Benzema scored the only goal of France's 1-0 friendly win against Austria, fellow 19-year-old Samir Nasri showed just as much promise.

Injury flurry
Barring an injury crisis like the one that ruled out Patrick Vieira, Thierry Henry, Louis Saha and Franck Ribéry on Wednesday, it is unlikely that Olympique de Marseille midfielder Nasri and Olympique Lyonnais striker Benzema will feature in the starting lineup for France's next UEFA EURO 2008™ qualifier against Ukraine in June. However, coach Raymond Domenech was far from dissatisfied with their efforts in the victory at the Stade de France, and was delighted to see that Les Bleus' future looks bright. "When I was thinking about this friendly, I was also thinking about the 2010 FIFA World Cup," said Domenech.

Impressive teenagers
In this week's matches against Lithuania - a EURO qualifier won by the same scoreline - and Austria, Domenech has also given 22-year-old Lassana Diarra and 20-year-old Abou Diaby a first chance to impress for their countries, although Benzema and Nasri - both born in 1987 - were perhaps the star performers. Considering the pair were just seven years old when their captain Lilian Thuram debuted for France, they showed sensational composure on their national-team bows. Nasri was already talking like a seasoned international after the Austria game, saying: "I'm happy with my performance, but I'll only remember that we won tonight and we did so in style - albeit by a narrow margin."

Great team-mates
Benzema acted a little more star-struck when he reflected on getting a winning goal to complement his first cap. "To have scored on my first appearance with the seniors pleased me," he admitted. "It's easier to play well when you are surrounded by stars like Nicolas Anelka or William Gallas." Yet if France dominated against the UEFA EURO 2008™ co-hosts, it was the young bucks who proved Austria's undoing, with playmaker Nasri laying the ball off for Benzema - a half-time replacement for Djibril Cissé - to drive home. "We hadn't practised that combination in training, but me and Samir have been playing together for France since we were 13," said Benzema.

Conveyor belt
Such instinctive understanding should stand France in good stead in the future. "We have young players who can't wait to be playing in the first team," said Domenech, as he celebrated his conveyor belt of talent. "Veterans with over 100 caps help the young ones to settle. It makes them more comfortable. The senior players have done their job in that sense and it's a huge satisfaction."