French coach Didier Deschamps has announced his squad for the Euros 2016 that will be taking place in France itself.
Among the notable absentees, we have Karim Benzema, who is suspended from the team after a blackmail scandal and Ben Arfa.
In fact, the biggest surprise is the absence of Hatem Ben Arfa, who has been quite prolific with Nice this season. Indeed, ever since he moved from Newcastle back to France, Ben Arfa has been scoring goals one after the another, and many would have thought that he would be in the team for the Euros. He is only named in the reserve side, and there will need to be an injury in the current squad for him to get a place at the Euros.
Didier Deschamps has argued that he has chosen not only the best players but also players that can play together. He said that he had chosen Olivier Giroud because he had scored 25 goals in all competition this season and the same thing goes for Griezmann. He believes that the forward players he has selected can play together and can help France go far in the tournament. Among the other forward players that have been selected by Didier Deschamps, we have Anthony Martial, Dimitri Payet, Kingsley Coman and Andre-Pierre Gignac.
Mamadou Sakho has also been omitted from the French team after having been tested positive for illegal substance. The UEFA is currently investigating him, and Deschamps has chosen not to select him until the end of the inquiry.
France will be under some pressure to do well at their Euros after having performed poorly in the most recent tournaments. The last time a major tournament was held in France was the 1998 World Cup where a team consisting of Zidane, Deschamps and Thuram managed to win it on their soil. They will be hoping that there will be a repeat of the same performance this time at the Euros.