Is Nicolas Anelka's international career over?
There has been much speculation that French striker Nicolas Anelka's international career could have been effectively ended with the news that he has been issued with a an 18 match ban by the French Football Association.
Anelka was issued the ban for his conduct during the recent South African World Cup, which saw him verbally abuse coach Raymond Domenech, this in turn caused the French squad to boycott a training session during the tournament.
The whole incident served to be the 'icing on the cake' of a disastrous 2010 World Cup for the French side, which saw them fail to qualify from the group stages of the competition.
Anelka chose to send a representative before the FFF, choosing to stay and train with domestic club Chelsea.
Pundits have speculated that this could have certainly contributed to the massive match ban handed down.
This means Anelka will certainly miss all of the qualifying for the 2012 Euro competition and could potentially eat into the tournament itself.
Anelka was not the only French player to be issued with punishment for the World Cup revolt, with captain Patrice Evra banned for five matches and Franck Ribery for three.
"I sensed that the players are truthfully sorry, and been left damaged and mortified at what took place, they were conscious of a collective meltdown.” said former deputy managing director of the team Jean-Louis Valentin.
"I believe that now it is imperative we turn the page and move on.
"I believe that to a certain extent there has been a very good dialogue in there (at the commission) which lasted a relatively long time.”
Blanc will be without the players who received bands for the remainder of France's Euro qualifying campaign, which will begin against Belarus on September 3rd.
Bwin offer 1/5 odds of a victory for the French side with 19/4 odds of a draw.
Place your bet now with bwin
