France names World Cup squad

France will be looking to capture their second World Cup title next month in Brazil, and on Tuesday manager Didier Deschamps announced the 30 players that will be fighting for a chance to make that goal a reality.

More so than most managers, Deschamps' job entails the management of the dressing room almost as much as it does the tactical side of things on the field. That element of the equations seems to have directly impacted the fate of one player in particular.

As was the expectation - by both pundits and even the player himself - Manchester City midfielder Samir Nasri will not be going to Brazil. The decision certainly has more to do with Nasri's reputation as an egotistical troublemaker in light of his verbal altercation with a journalist at Euro 2012 that led to his exile from the squad for almost an entire year.

He may not have explained it directly, but this quote from a recent interview with French radio station RMC (via ESPN FC) is quite easy to discern: 

"We're going to live together for six weeks. Some players, I don't know which ones yet, aren't going to play," he explained. "There are some who are only going to play a little. I have gone through that as a player. Okay, we had the success that everyone knows about in 1998, but it wasn't easy with certain players.

"Each day that goes by, when you don't play or only play a little, is not easy. But you can't have angels either, who say, 'Hello, thank you, everything's fine'. I don't want that a guy who doesn't play to be happy. It's normal that he's not happy. But it's always the collective interest that comes first."

Translation: No troublemakers allowed. Except for Patrice Evra, of course, for whom the same rules seem not to apply.

[Courtesy: Squawka]

After the debacle that was France's 2010 World Cup campaign - which mercifully ended after a winless group stage and was highlighted by a revolt against manager Raymond Domenech that saw Nicolas Anelka sent home - it perhaps shouldn't come as too much of a surprise that Deschamps has gone this route.

Even with the exclusion of the crafty Nasri, the squad is supremely talented, with the likes of Franck Ribery and Paul Pogba among the most skilled in the world at their respective positions.

Here's the full squad:

Goalkeepers

Mickael Landreau, Hugo Lloris, Steve Mandanda

Defenders

Mathieu Debuchy, Lucas Digne, Patrice Evra, Laurent Koscielny, Eliaquim Mangala, Bacary Sagna, Mamadou Sakho, Raphael Varane

Midfielders

Yohan Cabaye, Clement Grenier, Blaise Matuidi, Rio Mavuba, Paul Pogba, Moussa Sissoko, Mathieu Valbuena

Forwards

Karim Benzema, Olivier Giroud, Antoine Griezmann, Loic Remy, Franck Ribery

Remy Cabella, Maxime Gonalons, Alexandre Lacazette, Loic Perrin, Stephane Ruffier, Morgan Schneiderlin and Benoit Tremoulinas have been named as reserves.

France, sans Nasri, will take on Switzerland, Ecuador and Honduras in Group E action next month.