France's Ribery and Grenier out of World Cup

France manager Didier Deschamps has been forced into a further two changes to his original 23-man squad for the upcoming World Cup, following injuries to star man Franck Ribery and Clement Grenier.

Southampton's box to box midfielder, Morgan Schneiderlin, and Montpellier playmaker, and also Newcastle United transfer target Remy Cabella have been called up as replacements to the injured duo.

Ribery has been struggling for fitness for a number of weeks now with a lower back problem and had been following an individual training programme before he was due to re-join the French squad on Friday.

Speaking at a press conference, which was screened on the French Football Federation's official website, Didier Deschamps said:

 "He (Ribery) had tests early in the afternoon which unfortunately confirmed the severity of the situation, that he will be unavailable for several weeks."

Grenier was injured towards the end of the French Ligue 1 season but he regained fitness to join up with the French squad before sitting out Friday's training session while undergoing scans on a thigh problem.

These are the second and third changes to the original squad that Deschamps has been forced to make, having already replaced injured Marseille keeper Steve Mandana for St. Etienne's Stephane Ruffier.