Gooner Talk

William Gallas left France’s afternoon training session after just 5 minutes today, with his recurring calf injury coming back to haunt him once again.

According to L’Équipe, the 32-year-old felt his calf after several minutes of running before returning to the team hotel with their physio.

Les Bleus boss Raymond Domenech had taken 24 players to their Tignes training camp because of concerns over the fitness of Gallas, who has been unavailable since late March because of his aforementioned calf injury.

Gallas, who scored in yesterday’s 1-1 draw with Tunisia, is out of contract next month and could leave on a free transfer should he fail to agree terms to extend his four-year stay at the Emirates Stadium.

Update: Gallas opted out of the session due to a stomach ache.

France World Cup Squad:

Goalkeepers Hugo Lloris (Lyon), Steve Mandanda (Marseille), Cédric Carrasso (Bordeaux)

Defenders Bacary Sagna (Arsenal), Patrice Evra (Manchester United), William Gallas (Arsenal), Eric Abidal (Barcelona), Sébastien Squillaci (Sevilla), Marc Planus (Bordeaux), Gaël Clichy (Arsenal), Anthony Réveillère (Lyon)

Midfielders Alou Diarra (Bordeaux), Jérémy Toulalan (Lyon), Florent Malouda (Chelsea), Yoann Gourcuff (Bordeaux), Abou Diaby (Arsenal)

Forwards Thierry Henry (Barcelona), Nicolas Anelka (Chelsea), André-Pierre Gignac (Toulouse), Franck Ribéry (Bayern Munich), Sidney Govou (Lyon), Djibril Cissé (Panathinaikos), Mathieu Valbuena (Marseille)

Following on from the confirmation of Arsenal’s pre-season tour to Austria, it has been announced that Sturm Graz will play a friendly against the Gunners.

The Austrian side revealed that Franco Foda’s men will face the north Londoners between the first and second Bundesliga round of the 2010/2011 season on 21st July.

Sturm, who finished last season in fourth and won the ÖFB Cup (Austrian FA Cup), will also play a friendly against Blackburn Rovers on 10 July. Both matches will take place at the UPC Arena in Graz where England beat Japan 2-1 yesterday.

Thanks to ‘Austrian Gooner’ & ‘AA’ for the information.

Arsène Wenger will take his Arsenal team on their traditional pre-season visit to Austria, it has been confirmed.

The Gunners, who have been regular guests in Austria for almost 9 years now, will stay at a Bad Waltersdorf-based 5-star hotel from 19^th to 27^th  July this summer.

Here is a list of Arsenal’s confirmed pre-season friendlies so far:

17th July – Barnet (A)
19th-27th July - (Austria Tour – A)
31 July - AC Milan (Emirates Cup – H)
01 August - Celtic (Emirates Cup – H)
07 August - Legia Warsaw (A)

Robin van Persie has trained with the Dutch national team after recovering from a minor ankle knock sustained in midweek.

The Arsenal striker, who missed almost the entire second half of the season due to an ankle injury, is expected to be involved in tomorrow’s friendly with Ghana.

Holland coach Bert van Marwijk revealed that he is delighted with the progress of the 27-year-old.

“I am very pleased with the progress of Robin van Persie after such a long injury. He has quickly got back to the level he was at before. “

Tomorrow’s Netherlands v Ghana match kicks off at 18:30 GMT.

Raymond Domenech’s France side were unable to overcome a motivated and well organised Tunisian team, needing a second half header from William Gallas to rescue a draw.

Slack French defending allowed Tunisia striker Issam Jomaa space to tap home the opening goal in the fifth minute, but Gallas scored in the 62nd minute when he met Yoann Gourcuff’s free kick to head past goalkeeper Hamdi Kasraoui.

Les Bleus coach Domenech stuck with his new-look 4-3-3 formation, making only one change from the team which beat Costa Rica 2-1 last Wednesday. First-choice goalkeeper Hugo Lloris replaced Steve Mandanda, who had been at fault for Costa Rica’s goal.

Gallas, who missed the final few weeks of Arsenal’s season after getting injured against Barcelona in the Champions League quarter-final, still looks short of full fitness but remains a threat on set-pieces.

The centre half’s goal can be seen below:

Theo Walcott is more convinced than ever that he belongs on football’s biggest stage, and he will have to let his feet do the talking during tonight’s friendly against Mexico.

The Arsenal winger starts against a Carlos Vela-led side, with the England man admitting that he deserves to be in Fabio Capello’s final 23-man squad.

He said:

“It [Germany 2006] feels like just the other week to be honest. I know a lot has happened, I’ve had a lot of ups and downs, but the best way to deal with things is to react on the pitch.

“I’m still only 21, When I was still developing at 17, I got into a World Cup squad straight away, which was a lot of pressure.

“Most players get to develop in the background but with Arsenal and England there is a lot of games on TV so it can be hard. All eyes are on you straight away. I had a great run towards the back end of last season but this season the injuries have just stopped me completely. It’s been difficult. But I have a lot left in the tank. It feels like my season is only starting in the last few weeks.

“Picking the 23 will be difficult, it’s going to be an absolute headache but I’m sure as a manager [Capello] would prefer it that way, you want that competition. It can only look good for England.”

England team to face Mexico

Green
Johnson – Ferdinand – King – Baines
Walcott – Carrick – Gerrard – Milner
Crouch – Rooney