24 Days Left: World Cup Preview - France

France

World Cup
Appearances 12 (First in 1930)
Best result Winners, 1998
European Championship
Appearances 7 (First in 1960)
Best result Winners, 1984 and 2000
Confederations Cup
Appearances 2 (First in 2001)
Best result Winners, 2001 and 2003

Winning your first World Cup is a sweet thing, but it is so much sweeter when you win your first World Cup at home as France did in 1998. France will be bringing their top goal scorer from that Cup, Thierry Henry, who is also France's all time leading scorer in international competition. A surprising first round exit in 2002, was replaced with a trip to the finals in Germany 2006, in which they lost in pks to Italy.

France's provisional squad:

Goalkeepers: Cedric Carrasso (Bordeaux), Mickael Landreau (Lille), Hugo Lloris (Lyon), Steve Mandanda (Marseille)

Defenders: Eric Abidal (Barcelona), Gael Clichy (Arsenal), Patrice Evra (Manchester United), Rod Fanni (Rennes), William Gallas (Arsenal), Marc Planus (Bordeaux), Adil Rami (Lille), Anthony Reveillere (Lyon), Bacary Sagna (Arsenal), Sebastien Squillaci (Sevilla)

Midfielders: Abou Diaby (Arsenal), Alou Diarra (Bordeaux), Lassana Diarra (Real Madrid), Yoann Gourcuff (Bordeaux), Yann M'Vila (Rennes), Florent Malouda (Chelsea), Jeremy Toulalan (Lyon)

Forwards: Nicolas Anelka (Chelsea), Hatem Ben Arfa (Marseille), Jimmy Briand (Rennes), Djibril Cisse (Panathinaikos), Andre-Pierre Gignac (Toulouse), Sidney Govou (Lyon), Thierry Henry (Barcelona), Franck Ribery (Bayern Munich), Mathieu Valbuena (Marseille).

Official Site
France on Fifa.com