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France squad for Belarus & Bosnia qualifiers

Blanc had left out all 23 members of the World Cup squad for his first match in charge, a 2-1 defeat by Norway in a friendly in Oslo on August 11.

Nine of them return for the qualifiers against Belarus on September 3 in Paris and Bosnia four days later in Sarajevo, although the 21-man squad remained somewhat experimental with four uncapped players.

"To have a young team is a good thing but it's not enough to be competitive at the highest level," Blanc told a news conference. "We tried to come up with a mixture of talented youngsters and more experienced players who can guide them."

"He's young, scores a lot of a goals and can be an interesting solution up front," Blanc said of the 23-year-old Gameiro, who scored 17 Ligue 1 goals last season.

"For the moment, Jeremy is not indispensable but he's an interesting player for the future," said Blanc, pointing out that the Olympique Lyon player had switched from holding midfielder to central defender at club level.

Blanc also had to make do without playmaker Yoann Gourcuff, serving suspension after getting a red card in France's last match in South Africa.

Midfielders: Abou Diaby (Arsenal), Alou Diarra (Girondins Bordeaux), Lassana Diarra (Real Madrid), Yann M'Vila (Stade Rennes), Florent Malouda (Chelsea), Jeremy Menez (AS Roma), Mathieu Valbuena (Olympique Marseille).