Nasri, Clichy Excluded From France World Cup Squad

Manchester City duo, Samir Nasri and Gael Clichy has been left out of France Squad to the World Cup in Brazil.
France Coach Didier Deschamps released names of his twenty three man squad which has nine of them playing in England;  Tottenham goalkeeper Hugo Lloris, Newcastle's Mathieu Debuchy and Moussa Sissoko, Manchester United left-back Patrice Evra and Liverpool centre-back Mamadou Sakho are all included.

Arsenal trio Laurent Koscielny, Bacary Sagna and Olivier Giroud complete the Premier League contingent for the 1998 winners.

Though the duo are an integral part of the Manchester City team which won the EPL title just two days ago, they were however excluded from the team as they were judged not to have perform well for the national team.

Deschamps told French TV channel TF1: "Samir is an important player for Manchester City but he has not performed that well with France.

"He is a starter at City, which is not the case with France and he has made clear that he is not happy when he is not (a starter), and I can tell you it can be felt in the squad.

"I built the best squad, I did not pick the 23 best French players."

Southampton midfielder Morgan Schneiderlin is on the seven-man standby list.

Goalkeepers: Hugo Lloris (Tottenham Hotspur), Steve Mandanda (Marseille), Mickael Landreau (Bastia).

Defenders: Mathieu Debuchy (Newcastle), Lucas Digne (Paris St-Germain) Patrice Evra (Manchester United), Laurent Koscielny, Bacary Sagna (both Arsenal), Eliaquim Mangala (Porto), Mamadou Sakho (Liverpool), Raphael Varane (Real Madrid).

Midfielders: Yohan Cabaye, Blaise Matuidi (both Paris St-Germain), Clement Grenier (Lyon), Rio Mavuba (Lille), Paul Pogba (Juventus), Moussa Sissoko (Newcastle), Mathieu Valbuena (Marseille).

Strikers: Karim Benzema (Real Madrid), Olivier Giroud (Arsenal), Antoine Griezmann (Real Sociedad), Loic Remy (QPR - on loan at Newcastle), Franck Ribery (Bayern Munich), Stephane Ruffier (Monaco).

Standby: Loic Perrin (St Etienne), Maxime Gonalons, Alexandre Lacazette (both Lyon), Morgan Schneiderlin (Southampton), Benoit Tremoulinas (Dynamo Kiev), Remy Cabella (Montpellier)

France's first Group E match is against Honduras on 15 June and they also face Switzerland and Ecuador.