Florent Malouda - International Career

International Career

Malouda made his debut for France on 17 November 2004 in a match against Poland. He then became a squad regular, scoring his first goal for his country on 31 May 2005 against Hungary.

After playing almost throughout France's qualifying campaign for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, Malouda earned a call up to the final squad. Malouda continued to play regularly in the tournament, where the French eventually lost on penalties to Italy in the final. He won a penalty for France in that game, which was converted by Zinédine Zidane.

On 22 June 2010, during the 2010 World Cup, Malouda scored a goal during the match against host nation South Africa, which ended in a 2–1 defeat in favour of Bafana Bafana. It was the only goal scored by France during their campaign in the group stage before they were eliminated in last place, having drawn 0–0 with Uruguay, and losing 2–0 to Mexico. Malouda also played in the final game scoring to pull one back to make it 1–2 but they still lost to South Africa On 3 September 2010, Malouda was handed the captain's armband in France's first Euro 2012 qualifier against Belarus, while a five-game suspension was being served by the previous captain, Patrice Evra. It was new coach Laurent Blanc's first game in charge and Les Bleus slumped to a disappointing 1–0 defeat.

On international duty in February 2012, Malouda netted his side's second goal of a 2–1 defeat of Germany, latching on to a cross from fellow substitute Morgan Amalfitano. After being included in France's 23-man squad for the European Championships in Poland and Ukraine, Malouda scored his ninth international goal in a 2–0 friendly defeat of Serbia on 31 May, netting a superb strike from the edge of the area to double their advantage.