Monday 10 October 2011

MALOUDA LOOKING TO COMPLETE THE TASK


Florent Malouda is hoping to tie up automatic qualification for next summer's European Championships on Tuesday night.
The 31-year-old, who scored in France's 3-0 win over Albania on Friday, knows a win will see Les Bleus book their ticket to Ukraine and Poland.
'We're going into this last match with confidence; we know our opponents and we absolutely have to win,' Malouda has told fifa.com
'The only slight concern is all the injuries we have, which are affecting us a bit at the moment. That said, it's a good opportunity to test the quality of our squad. We're playing at home and we need to turn that to our advantage and make sure it doesn't make us nervous.'
Qualification would represent an impressive turnaround from the farce of the 2010 World Cup.  Matters are looking much more positive for the French under Laurent Blanc's leadership, and Malouda recognises the opportunity that is there in Paris on Tuesday evening.
'There have been quite a few changes and a new generation has been successfully introduced, to the extent that I'm one now of the oldest around,' he said. 'Things have also calmed down on the media front, because people relentlessly attacked the previous coach [Raymond Domenech] no matter what he did.
'Laurent Blanc represents new hope and things have changed at every level: how the players behave, their commitment, their desire to do well etc.
'We've never been in a better position to qualify. People told themselves we'd get there easily playing wonderful football, but that's a bit of a fantasy. Qualification has always been laborious and all the national teams find it hard going. We sense a little pessimism around us sometimes, but we're still upbeat and determined.'

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