Henry, Malouda start from bench for France

France coach Raymond Domenech left Thierry Henry and Florent Malouda on the bench for their World Cup opener against Uruguay on Friday.

Henry’s demotion follows poor form this season at Barcelona, with Manchester United’s Patrice Evra taking over the captain’s armband and Nicolas Anelka assuming the main goalscoring duties with Franck Ribery.

More surprising was Chelsea star Malouda being left out, with his place taken by Arsenal’s Abou Diaby.

Centre back William Gallas recovered from a knee injury and starts for the 1998 champions.

Uruguay, which employs an unusual 3-4-1-2 under coach Oscar Tabarez, goes into the match having played just one friendly — a 4-1 thumping of Israel — as part of their preparations.

Tabarez has prefered to focus on the training field and whether this approach pays off remains to be seen.

But he has confidence in his squad which will rely heavily on the fearsome strike duo of Atletico Madrid’s Diego Forlan and Ajax’s Luis Suarez, who scored nearly 80 goals between them this season.

Skipper and defensive lynchpin Diego Lugano, nicknamed “the warrior”, is tasked with motivating the team from behind while 21-year-old midfielder Nicolas Lodeiro has matured hugely and should pose a threat.

Teams

France: Hugo Lloris, Bakary Sagna, Patrice Evra (capt), Eric Abidal, William Gallas, Yoann Gourcuff, Sidney Govou, Jeremy Toulalan, Abou Diaby, Nicolas Anelka, Franck Ribery

Coach: Raymond Domenech (FRA)

Uruguay: Fernando Muslera, Diego Lugano (capt), Diego Godin, Mauricio Victorino, Diego Perez, Alvaro Pereira, Egidio Arevalo Rios, Ignacio Gonzalez, Maximiliano Pereira, Diego Forlan, Luis Suarez.

Coach: Oscar Tabarez (URU)

Referee: Yuichi Nishimura (JPN)