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Moussa Sissoko and Yohan Cabaye named by Didier Deshamps but no Hatem Ben Arfa

8 years ago
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The latest France squad has been named on Thursday lunchtime and Moussa Sissoko and Yohan Cabaye are both named.

However, there is no place for Hatem Ben Arfa, the former Newcastle winger in sparkling form and joint top of the goalscoring charts in Ligue 1 with six goals already.

It would have been an apt call-up for Ben Arfa with France taking on Armenia next Thursday (8 October) night in Nice, the new home for the playmaker.

The French then travel to Copenhagen to face Denmark on Sunday 11 October)

Hatem Ben Arfa scored two cracking goals against St Etienne at the weekend, Nice running out 4-1 winners to continue a very good start to the season inspired by the winger.

However, despite his great recent form, ahead of the squad being announced today, the player himself chose to play down talk of a call-up….just yet.

On the other hand, Moussa Sissoko must be grateful for Didier Deschamps’ ongoing loyalty, after the Newcastle midfielder has made such a poor start to the season.

Florian Thauvin has failed to make any breakthrough, whilst Mathieu Debuchy’s place sitting on the bench for Arsenal sees him left out as well.

Hatem Ben Arfa:

“If I manage to keep it up over the long-term then why not (recall to national squad), consistency will make the difference.”

Asked about comparisons with Lionel Messi:

“Messi has his qualities, I have mine.

“He has the Ballon d’Or, I have nothing at all.”

End product:

“It is true that it was a nice goal (v St.Etienne – watch it HERE) but the most important thing is to be effective, it is not to dribble just for the sake of dribbling.

“You have to dribble with the ball to beat a man and score or to get an assist, that is what I managed to do this evening.”

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