International Career
Lass Diarra won eighteen caps for the France U-21s. Perhaps his most notable performance came in a UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship qualifying match against England in November 2005. With the game deep into stoppage time and seemingly destined for extra time (the aggregate score was 2–2), Lass received the ball in the England penalty area. A challenge from Kieran Richardson saw Diarra go down, and a penalty was given. His French teammate Jimmy Briand scored the penalty past Scott Carson and France qualified. Lass was selected for the senior team by coach Raymond Domenech for a 2008 Euro qualifier away to Lithuania on 24 March 2007. He started the match, alongside Claude Makélélé and Jérémy Toulalan also in midfield, and played the full 90 minutes. He was also selected that year for a friendly match against Austria on 28 March 2007. Lass's consistent club performances in 2008 meant that he was picked for the France squad for Euro 2008, ahead of high-calibre players such as Djibril Cissé and Mathieu Flamini. However, with France failing to progress beyond the group stages, Lass did not feature in any of their three matches. Following the international retirement of fellow defensive midfielder Makélélé, he was called up for Raymond Domenech's France squad in the 20 August 2008 friendly with Sweden. By the end of the 2010 World Cup Qualifying campaign, Lass had made 26 appearances for France. On 11 May 2010, Lass was named to the preliminary squad of Domenech's squad to play in the 2010 FIFA World Cup. He was later named to the shortened list of players and was expected to be a starter alongside Jérémy Toulalan in the midfield. However, on 22 May, while training with the national team in the high-altitude commune of Tignes, it was announced that Diarra was dropping out of the squad due to suffering severe intestinal pain and stomach cramps as a result of the altitude. A follow-up medical check revealed that the injury requires a significant amount of rest. His parent club, Real Madrid, later revealed that Diarra's injury was due to asthenic syndrome secondary related to sickle-cell anemia, a genetic blood disorder characterized by red blood cells that assume an abnormal, rigid, sickle shape.
Read more about this topic: Lassana Diarra
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