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Volume No. 1 Issue No. 83 - Friday July 07, 2006 |
Eight Caribbean Born Players or With caribbean Parents Power French World Cup Team
 Thomson Fontaine
As the French soccer team gets ready for Italy in the finals of the 2006 World Cup, the French are grateful for the presence on the squad of eight Caribbean-born and second generation Caribbean migrant players who have made a tremendous contribution to the team's success.
 From Guadeloupe are Lilian Thuram and Pascal Chimbonda while Florent Malouda hails from French Guiana. Thuram is the most capped player for France with 118 caps and is currently considered one of the best defenders in the world. He currently plays for Juventus F.C.
Pascal, 27, wears the number 21 shirt for the team but is signed to the Wigan Athletic, a Premiership side. It is his first major international debut but he is able to play at either centre-back or right-back.
Malouda plays the midfield and is signed to Olympique Lyonnais and the French national team. He has ten caps for France, scoring one goal for the side. Malouda, #7, is playing on the left wing of the French team for the Cup.
The other players of Caribbean parents include twenty-seven-year-old �ric Abidal, who was born to Martiniquan parents in Lyon. He has been a member of the French team since 2004 and has earned fourteen caps for his country's side.
Born in the suburban Paris town of Les Ulisto to parents from the French Antilles is 29-year-old Thierry 'Titi' Henry. In 2005, Henry was the top scorer in the British Premier League playing for Arsenal; and in 2004 soccer legend Pele named him as one of the top 125 greatest living footballers in the world.
Then there is Louis Saha, the Manchester United striker; William Gallas and Sylvain Wiltord, all three born in France to Guadeloupian parents. Number 14 Saha, who plays for Manchester was picked in the World Cup squad as a forward.
Gallas, the number 5 jersey, plays for Chelsea F.C. in the English Premier League, and made his debut for France in a 5-0 demolition of Slovenia in a Euro 2004 qualifier in October 2002. Finally, Wiltord, who wears the number 11 jersey, has been capped 83 times for France, scoring 24 goals. In 2000, he signed with English club Arsenal for a club-record �13,000,000.
France will be looking for their second world cup championship after winning it all in France in 1998.
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