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Arsenal defender Laurent Koscielny to start for France vs. USA tomorrow

Congratulations, Mr. Koscielny.
Congratulations, Mr. Koscielny.

Arsenal defender Laurent Koscielny will win his first cap for France tomorrow, according to Julien Laurens, frequent Arsenal Fans' Forum guest on the club's official site and all-around French person of excellence:

Last training tonight confirmed Koscielny will start tomorrow for France vs USA alongside Rami in the centre. #firstcap#arsenal
Nov 10 via Twitter for BlackBerry®FavoriteRetweetReply

 

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This is really good news for Koscielny, who has quietly improved this season, becoming one of the top seven or eight central defenders in the Premier League. He is by no means perfect, but his play has become much more consistent over the past three months, and he looks an excellent partner for either Per Mertesacker or Thomas Vermaelen in the center of defense for Arsenal, as well as being able to fill in at right back on an emergency basis. He recently turned 26, and has many years left at the top of his game (knock on wood), but has not yet been picked for France.

That all changes tomorrow against the USA.

France have started playing relative youngsters Adil Rami and Younes Kaboul at center half after years and years with Lilian Thuram and William Gallas holding it down, and Laurent Koscielny looks to win a place with the team for Euro 2012.

Either way, it's a wonderful achievement for a man who was playing in Ligue 2 as recently as 2009. Congratulations to Laurent Koscielny, and may he continue to have more professional success (on Arsenal, of course).