Newcastle and France midfielder Yohan Cabaye has talked about his country drawing Ukraine in a two leg tie to decide which country qualifies for the World Cup in Brazil next summer.
Yohan Cabaye – mm
Yohan has talked to RMC about the tie:
“Have we hit the jackpot? I do not know. We’ll see on November 19,” “The draw could have been worse but we will have to respect Ukraine. “
“We have two games to play but it is not because we play Ukraine and not Portugal, or that we are at home in the second leg, that we are already qualified.”
“It will not be simple. We will face a team that will also want to go to Brazil. They score a lot of goals, they have lost few games and won almost all their recent matches. It could have been more difficult, certainly, but it will still be difficult.”
England are ranked 10th in the latest FIFA rankings, Ukraine ar ranked 20th and France are ranked 21st, and in the other play-off ties in Europe – Portugal play Sweden, Iceland were drawn against Croatia and Greece will meet Romania
Ukraine were in England’s group in the World Cup qualifying and finished just one point behind England in second place, and in their games England drew 0-0 at Wembley and 1-1 in the Ukraine – so Ukraine are a tough side and will give France everything they can handle.
It should be an excellent two games two between the counties.
In the last game in the World Cup group stages, France called up Yohan Cabaye, Mathieu Debuchy, Moussa Sissoko and Loic Remy, and all four are expected to be in the French squad for these two vital games to be played next month.
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29 comments so far
Ciaran
Oct 21, 2013 at 11:34 PM
Comment #1200-300? Behave 😉
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rClpLZqAKko&feature=youtu.be
Big Pappa Cissé
Oct 21, 2013 at 11:58 PM
Comment #2In a way I would like them to qualify as their dream is to play for their country and go to Brazil, however if they don’t qualify the benefits are :
1. No Injuries
2. If they have a good tournament someone may bid for them
Selfish maybe but NUFC comes before France I’m afraid 😉
jimmysmith
Oct 22, 2013 at 12:20 AM
Comment #3It’s hard to square with the fact we have up to 9 or more players in the mix to go to a World Cup and yet at the same time have a squad that many, if not the majority, of pundits have down to finish outside the top ten. Bit of a disconnect there, but not an unreasonable assessment, I think.
Ciaran
Oct 22, 2013 at 12:22 AM
Comment #4I can sum up my views on international football in two words;
Who cares?
jayphoto
Oct 22, 2013 at 12:28 AM
Comment #5To be fair we have a lot of french players in the french team squad that aren’t certainties to be in the squad if they qualify! Cabaye is the only guarentee! Quite like the idea of Remy, Sissoko, Debuchy , HBA and Yanga -mbiwa playing out of their skin for nufc all season to make their world cup squad! Coloccini, santon and Krul also in that situation, can only be good for us
jimmysmith
Oct 22, 2013 at 12:49 AM
Comment #6You’ve also got Shola and Anita, Cisse who would have gone, Gouffran and even Tubby Taylor, who might think he’s in with a chance considering England’s first choice centre backs seem to be Cahill and Jagielka.
I’m sure Pards will be plugging a sense of solidarity with a key message of lets go to the World Cup together, at least I hope so.
John Tudor
Oct 22, 2013 at 6:26 AM
Comment #7200- 300
i counted 21800 but that included the police and the people that lined the march who cheered and applauded
John Tudor
Oct 22, 2013 at 6:32 AM
Comment #8come clean mr ashley
Ian Toon
Oct 22, 2013 at 7:44 AM
Comment #9Mr Tuff- Ha Ha. What a master creation. Not by you but Tom Harris. It ticks all the boxes in the BBC test.
There is life in the old dog still……..erm!
cyprus
Oct 22, 2013 at 7:48 AM
Comment #10Ciaran,
That video you posted actually seems to confirm there were only a couple hundred there… Anyway, hope your efforts made a difference.
On football. Remy hasn’t looked all that good in the middle. Perhaps being on the left wing is his best position. Same with HBA… On the right, mainly, with a free to roam role. Cisse must come good again, we still need him.
Lilongwe Geordie
Oct 22, 2013 at 7:58 AM
Comment #11Cyprus,
I’d be happy if Cisse came good, however I just feel with HBA and Remy playing off him we are better off with a striker who may not be prolific, but can hold up play and bring payers into the game. Matri, who was available in the summer would have been ideal I think.
Sadly for Cisse, we play our 433 to much like a 451 when we don’t have the ball which means that he is far too isolated a lot of the time.
HBA didn’t do much up front, but I’d stick with it for now, give Cisse a chance off the bench against the mackems. As I said yesterday, against what is essentially a slow and very poor/settling defence the movement that could be offered by a front 3 of Goofy, Remy and HBA would pull them apart, provided they are up for it.
I saw someone say Debuchy was suspended for next week? Can anyone confirm or refute this?? I could check myself I suppose…..
Lilongwe Geordie
Oct 22, 2013 at 8:04 AM
Comment #12So far this season, Newcastle are the only North East team in the top 5 divisions not to replace their manager. Hartlepool, Gateshead, Boro, Sunderland all have now. Would have to check on Blyth and Darlo to go further down the leagues.
Can’t see anything on Debuchy on Nufc.com so I guess whoever it was was wrong…
Lilongwe Geordie
Oct 22, 2013 at 8:13 AM
Comment #13Sunderland manager Gus Poyet is prepared to play defender Wes Brown in Sunday’s derby with Newcastle, despite the 34-year-old not playing a first-team match in 21 months because of several injuries.
Full story: Daily Mirror
I hope this is true, Brown and O’Shea, Bardlsey and however you spell their left back up against the pace and movement of Remy, HBA and Goofy. Can’t wait. Hopefully Pardew will play an out and out 433, and let us get at them.
Ibizatoon
Oct 22, 2013 at 8:23 AM
Comment #14Lil…I haven’t heard that about Debuchy. I’d imagine it would have circulating news and likely meant we’d have heard that Dummet would be getting a start in the derby.
As for the Sunderland defense….I can’t wait.
Toon Tang
Oct 22, 2013 at 8:27 AM
Comment #15picture looks like aaron ramsey
Thump
Oct 22, 2013 at 8:30 AM
Comment #16I think he will, Lilongwe. I can’t see him setting the team up like he did against them at our place.
Mister Tuff
Oct 22, 2013 at 8:30 AM
Comment #17Ian Toon @9 yes another quality gag -even though I say it myself.
Lilongwe Geordie
Oct 22, 2013 at 8:40 AM
Comment #18Ibiza,
Yeah, I have come to that conclusion as well, nowt on NUFC.com, and I’m certain they wouldn’t have missed out on that.
Lilongwe Geordie
Oct 22, 2013 at 8:41 AM
Comment #19Morning Mr Tuff,
I missed your article re Spurs, what was it from so I can find it and have a read.
Lilongwe Geordie
Oct 22, 2013 at 8:45 AM
Comment #20Thump,
Hopefully, he can’t go out not to lose in this one. I think he does get the fans, and he knows that revenge is wanted/almost required to restore bragging rights. They are an awful team, the only player I’d maybe have in our squad is Giaccherini, and then he would probably be a sub.
If we play as we can we could play them off the park, but who knows which Newcastle will turn up, lat time we all thought like this was the Hull game at home….
Mister Tuff
Oct 22, 2013 at 8:45 AM
Comment #21Lilongwe – hang fire -I’ll check back and repost link. it’s a decent article well worth a read.
kt97toonarmy
Oct 22, 2013 at 8:48 AM
Comment #22Despite their start lads. This will b a really tough game. But ive missed beating the mackams. 2 long years. Nd pardew has never beaten them at st james park. Which is woeful. The last win at home was of course u all remember
kt97toonarmy
Oct 22, 2013 at 8:52 AM
Comment #23I guess my last comment is me being me. Im always cautious going in to a derby. Im never complacent when it comes to the mackams and did u hear bout smoggies hahahahahahahaha bottom half of the championship nd no manager. Hahahaha love it
Mister Tuff
Oct 22, 2013 at 8:54 AM
Comment #24Lilongwe – link to article about Spurs branding and what they are doing to promote their team. I suspect we are not doing anything similar.
http://www.someoneinlondon.com/category/projects/a-brandworld-for-tottenham-hotspur
kt97toonarmy
Oct 22, 2013 at 8:56 AM
Comment #25Liongwe geordie
It was me who said debuchy was suspended. I thought he was on 5 yellow cards. My mistake.
Rainrix
Oct 22, 2013 at 8:56 AM
Comment #26Debuchy had 3 yellows so he’s still got 2 to go before any ban.
Mister Tuff
Oct 22, 2013 at 9:01 AM
Comment #27Will have to dash – back later on tonight.
Lilongwe Geordie
Oct 22, 2013 at 9:01 AM
Comment #28Cheers Tuff, will have a read.
KT, no worries mate.
cyprus
Oct 22, 2013 at 9:13 AM
Comment #29They will have earmarked this as a potential first win. They are bound to win sometime. I only remember watching one game of theirs (v. Man. U) and they deserved something…
Now, having said all this, I’ve seen an improvement with our team, even Hull we should ‘ve won. So, as always, expecting a real – real tough one. And hoping that we’ll be firing on all (most?) cylinders and thus get the win.
Lil,
Legit points regarding Cisse. But, do remember what he did when he first came here, scoring some of the best goals I’ve seen by an NUFC striker. The thing is, now he must concentrate on combining and not rushing to shoot. As he showed with his national team, he can still score… It happens to the best of them, really. Shearer, Rooney, Van Basten, etc. Etoo has been missing sitters galore, I’ve watched all Chelsea games. Then he scored a cracker. Now, the flood gates will open. Cisse will (probably) come good. Don’t rush to sell with the first dip in form. Look at Ba. He truly looks crap these days, when he gets a chance. He looks like he’s finished.