France

Les Bleus have been tipped by many to go far this summer but will have to be watchful against a Sweden side looking to regain some pride after two defeats.

French optimism was replaced by general whinging after their opening draw against England, as anyone with an opinion blasted England’s defensive style, but they bounced back to take all three points against Ukraine with a solid 2-0 victory.

That success was all the more impressive given the circumstances surrounding the match, and they clearly coped with the storm delay better than the co-hosts.

They sit at the top of the standings, level with England on four points, and a draw on Tuesday night in Kiev’s Olympic Stadium will be enough to see them through to the last eight.

Defeat would by no means be a disaster, as a Ukraine victory over England could still see them qualify on goal difference depending on the severity of the French loss (Ukraine 5/2 – To Qualify).

But Les Bleus will not be thinking of losing and have the talent to take care of a Swedish outfit who, despite showing some promise, have ultimately disappointed to date in the competition.

They were beaten by a Ukraine side whose coach, Oleg Blokhin, had virtually conceded defeat before a ball had been kicked, before going down to an England side who had been tipped to struggle in Poland and Ukraine.

France showed their true colours against Ukraine last time out and their big players upped the level with the likes of Franck Ribery, Karim Benzema and Yohan Cabaye all excelling.

A repeat display should be god enough to at least come away with the draw they need but they will have to be wary of the threat of Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

Tipped to be a star of the tournament, the AC Milan striker has scored just one goal to date in a losing cause against the east Europeans and he will want to exit the competition on a high.

He was well marshalled by the England rearguard and the French back four will have taken note of that display.

France’s defence is not the strongest and so the Swedes are not without hope of at least bagging one goal to end their participation on a positive note, but they would love to conclude with a win to deflect some of the criticism that is certain to come their way on returning home.

The Scandinavians have led in both their matches to date but have been unable to get over the line and Ibrahimovic and a number of his team-mates made it clear after the England defeat that they thought they were the better side.

Whether or not that is true is open to debate but it is goals that count and the fact that they were unable to stop 35-year-old Andriy Shevchenko and could not deal with the pace of Theo Walcott when he was introduced by Roy Hodgson means they prop up the group and have nothing but pride to play for this week.

They are clearly taking this match seriously as reports claim the entire squad took part in training on Sunday despite the fact that it had been made voluntary by coach Erik Hamren, who remains upbeat about his squad despite their collective failure this time around.

France still have some bridge building to do with the French public after their behaviour at the 2010 World Cup and a decent victory over the Swedes to seal qualification would go a long way.

They are now unbeaten in 23 matches and if that becomes 24 on Tuesday then Laurent Blanc’s men will have achieved the first part of their aim this summer (France 7/1 – Tournament Outright).

Winning the group is vital for the long-term prospects of the side as it would probably mean avoiding Spain in the quarter-finals and so three points will be the target for the 2000 champions.

There have already been a few shocks this summer and Blanc will be keeping his fingers crossed that his men are not involved in another one.

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The French Football Federation announced that the 22-year-old would not be risked on Friday night in coach Laurent Blanc’s first competitive match in charge since taking over after the disastrous World Cup finals campaign.

Although tests on Benzema’s right ankle showed a slight improvement, it was deemed to be too much of a risk for him to play at the Stade de France.

The ex-Lyon star will continue to receive treatment with the FFF hopeful he may be fit for Tuesday’s game with Bosnia and Herzegovina.

A statement from the FFF read: “Benzema will not be included in the team selected by Laurent Blanc to face Belarus. We hope he will be able to return to the squad for next Tuesday’s game against Bosnia in Sarajevo.

Guillaume Hoarau (4/1 First Goalscorer) is expecetd to lead the line against Belarus with Loic Remy (5/1) dropping in behind him with the Paris St Germain striker revealing they were forming a good understanding on the pitch.

“His game completes mine,” said Hoarau. “Everything will depend on what we do on the field, on the spark that we inject into the team’s game. We had a big training session on Tuesday and already the understanding is emerging, even though most of the side haven’t played together before.”

Chelsea star Florent Malouda (11/2) is set to be the most experienced international in France’s starting line-up with several new faces given an extended run, such as Jeremy Menez (11/2) who will start on the right.

Louis Saha (7/2), despite having made only one Premier League start and two substitute appearances for Everton this season, is set for a spot on the bench with Nicolas Anelka having been banned for ten matches.

The former Fulham and Manchester United striker revealed he has used leeches to help his chronic knee problems which have sidelined him for long periods in the last few years.

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Laurent Blanc

Blanc, the 44-year-old who helped France win the World Cup on home soil in 1998, replaced Raymond Domenech, whose contract ended after the team were sent packing.

His first task is to help France qualify for the 2012 European Championships in Poland and Ukraine (France 4/9 to win qualifying Group D).

The former Bordeaux coach was appointed during a meeting of the French Football Federation (FFF) in Paris.

FFF president Jean-Pierre Escalettes formally handed in his resignation at the meeting, having said he would quit after the federation was blamed for the way it handled a player revolt in South Africa.

“I have decided to resign because it is my duty,” Escalettes told a news conference on Friday. “I accept my share of responsibility.”

“Raymond Domenech has humbly admitted that he had made mistakes and so have I,” said Escalettes.

The 75-year-old Escalettes and Domenech’s lack of authority were exposed when they failed to convince the players they should train at their base in Knysna, Western Cape.

“It was my responsibility to make the players get out of the coach and train and I failed,” Escalettes said.

“I felt humiliated. I am ashamed and I present my apologies to all those who loved and believed in that France team and to the whole world.”

“All my life I tried to give another image than the one I am leaving and I feel sad,” Escalettes said.

“My successor will have to draw the conclusions from what happened to make sure it never happens again.”

Nicknamed “The President” for his calm authority in his playing days, Blanc will initially be more respected than the controversial Domenech, if only for his far more impressive resume.

“I believe in Laurent Blanc and in the team he will come up with,” Escalettes said.

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France

Les Bleus had Thierry Henry and Florent Malouda on the bench for the game, and the latter expressed his frustration later at only being used as a substitute.

However, Evra does not thing a drastic overhaul is needed for the Group A game against Mexico on Thursday (4/9 France – To Qualify).

“What would I change for the next game? Score a goal!” said Evra.

“We will keep going, create a lot of chances and be strong like we were in the first match, because I don’t think Uruguay caused a lot of problems for us.

“We need to create more chances to score goals. I think the tactics were okay for us.

“We talked with the boss before the game and we were very happy with these tactics. It is not the first time we’ve played like that. Maybe against Mexico we can change things around, we’ll see.

“Now, against Mexico, we need to win and we’ll see after that in the match against South Africa (what we need).”

Meanwhile, France goalscoring legend Just Fontaine says he is struggling to see the side scoring goals during the tournament.

Fontaine, whose record of 13 goals in a tournament from 1958 still stands, is confident none of the current players are about to pass that mark.

“It’s not because of any of the strikers I saw in France-Uruguay that I’m going to be shaking,” said Fontaine.

“Anelka continues to come back, which meant the the three Uruguay centres were gifted, so much so that there wasn’t a single shot from 25 metres, only rugby conversions!

“I think Domenech should have taken off Anelka well before. He never left behind one or two of the three centres on crosses, didn’t catch a single ball with his head.

“During the match someone said that he had leaden feet. Well the head too then.

“Ribery? One day, we made the stupidity of saying that he was the brains of the team and since then he has believed it. He dribbles past seven players but then the eighth one takes the ball off him.

“Gourcuff? He’s lost. He is tired following his season, he is less lively and above all, he doesn’t know who to give the ball to, since Anelka plays behind him!

“I’m not optimistic. I hope they’ll prove me a liar. But…”

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South Africa

The Bafana Bafana opened their Group A campaign on Friday with an encouraging 1-1 draw against Mexico at Soccer City. After a disappointing first-half performance, left winger Siphiwe Tshabalala put the hosts ahead on the hour with a fearsome left-footed strike. The goal appeared to spur on the hosts and South Africa started to gain more of a foothold in the match.

However, the Mexicans hit back through a Rafael Marquez goal 12 minutes from time but the South Africans came agonisingly close to stealing it when Katlego Mphela’s (200-1 Top Goalscorer) strike struck the post in the final seconds.

Despite the disappointment of the draw, Parreira remained upbeat about his side’s chances of making it through to the last 16.

“We could easily have won the game, but all in all a draw was a fair result,” said Brazilian Parreira. “We are still in the competition. This group is very tough.”

Parreira, who is coaching at his sixth World Cup, including coaching his native Brazil to victory in 1994, says his team initially froze under the pressure of being hosts as they were totally outplayed by the Mexicans in the first half and struggled with the expectations of their nation.

However, he says he was pleased by how his side adapted to the situation and did well to fight back well to put in a creditable performance in the second coming close to making a winning start to their campaign.

“The opening game is always a lot of pressure and today was no different,” the Brazilian said.

“Most of our team are a home-based team, players who are not used to this big environment, and we tried hard to adapt to this ambience, but after 15 minutes we started playing our game, putting the ball on the ground.”

Parrerira says the draw puts the South Africans in an ideal position to qualify from their group which also includes former winners France and Uruguay. No host nation has ever failed to qualify from the group stages and the Bafana Bafana coach is confident his side will not be the first and has pinpointed the final group game against France as the key match that will hopefully see them qualify for the knockout stages.

He added: “This group will be decided in the last game against France.”

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The Bayern Munich midfielder is one of France’s prize assets and is a certainty to be included in coach Raymond Domenech’s 23-man squad for South Africa.

France (11/2 to be eliminated in the semi-finals) struggled to qualify for the World Cup and only made it through due to a controversial win over Ireland in the play-offs – a game memorable for Thierry Henry’s handball in the build-up to William Gallas’s winning goal.

Les Bleus have been drawn in Group A for the competition, with hosts South Africa, Mexico and Uruguay (4/1 to win Group A), and will kick-off their World Cup campaign against the South Americans on June 11th.

Ribery, answering questions put to him from football fans, told Fifa.com that he has high hopes that France can win the World Cup this summer.

“We have a very good team who are more than capable,” said the 27-year-old.

Speaking about France’s main rivals to lift the trophy, he added: “There are several other teams who are just as good, though, and at the moment I think England and Spain are both very strong.”

France coach Domenech recently came under fire from UEFA president and footballing legend Michel Platini.

He has previously supported the much-maligned manager, including during a poor showing in the 2008 European Championships, but now appears to have lost patience with Domenech.

He told Groupe Hersant Media there is a “Raymond problem” and Domenech has proved himself “hopeless” in many ways over the years.

When discussing France’s chances of success for the tournament he admitted he does not have high hopes for Les Bleus.

“I don’t see them winning, I see them passing the first round. After they will play either Argentina or Nigeria,” said Platini.

It remains to be seen whether Thierry Henry (33/1 to be top World Cup goalscorer), who played an infamous role in helping France qualify for South Africa, will actually be on the plane to the World Cup as Domenech recently said that he could not assure the 32-year-old a place in his squad.

The gaffer is set to name his preliminary squad on May 11th and Henry’s lack of playing time for Barcelona could play against him.

It remains to be seen if the former Arsenal legend will be among the party preparing for their opening game in Green Point on June 11^th.

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