Manager of France Raymond Domenech

Manager: Raymond Domenech
Captain: Thierry Henry
FIFA World Ranking: 10
World Cup Appearances: 12
Best World Cup: Winners – 1998

France Article

France Team Profile

The 1998 World Cup winners will have high hopes of winning another World Cup in South African but, however, could count themselves lucky to even be in the tournament after they qualified not only via a play-off but also under controversial circumstances. The French beat the Republic of Ireland 2-1, although their eventual winners didn’t come until late into extra-time and it was adied via the hand of Thierry Henry before William Galls nodded home to send France to South Africa, at the expense of a glum ROI.

Henry’s part in France qualifying sparked uproar amongst not only with the Irish FA but also with neutrals from all around the globe, and France might not be welcomed as warmly as some of the other European nations in South Africa. To add to the hostility, even the French supporters aren’t best pleased with their squad of underachievers as their displays in qualifying where bewilderingly bad at times, and the fact that it took a dubious goal to seal their qualification doesn’t sit well with the French fans, as they’ve had it in for Raymond Domenech for a while now, pretty much ever since their poor showing at Euro 2008 at which France didn’t even make it pass the group stage of the competition.

The French, though, remain a big contender for the crown regardless of their lacklustre qualifying campaign. Their squad is jam-packed with world class quality, whilst they generally tend to do well on the big stage, with the exception of their poor showing in their last major event – the European Champions in 2008. They will have a big point to prove, though, not only after their disappointing 2008 but to also make amends for their sluggish campaign throughout qualifying, as many French fans have lost faith in Domenech’s regime.

Nickname: Les Bleus (The Blues)

France Key Players

We’ll start with their influential captain, although in fairness Thierry Henry has done little to raise the morale in the France camp of late despite lending a helping hand… literally!

The French captain is the all-time leading scorer for his country with 51 goals in 118 appearances which, considering he looks as though he might carry on playing for France for a couple more years, could see him notch up a few more international caps before he hangs his boots up. There is no doubting the Va-va-voom star used to have unenviable talent when he was at Arsenal, enjoying arguably the best spell of his career in England, but since joining Barcelona, Henry hasn’t been the same and certainly hasn’t been as instrumental for France as fans would have hoped. Even so, Henry still has more going for himself than many others and remains a key player in the final third.

Now the final third, the attacking third, is where France look their strongest on paper yet so often you hear about France struggling to convert their array of striking options into regular goals, even against the smaller fish. Up front Domenech could take any number of forwards to South Africa with him; Djibril Cisse – enjoying one of his best spells in his career in Greece currently and his pace could be useful even if his finishing has never been clinical. Nicolas Anelka is unquestionably the best forward France have right now but even Les Sulk is going through a patchy spell at the moment, with goals drying up at the latter end of the season with Chelsea, so their pivotal forward doesn’t exactly come to South Africa with bags of momentum and confidence, and Anelka has always been a confidence sort of guy. The new guy on the scene comes in the form of a bulky forward, not in the mould of any previous France forwad stars in Andre-Pierre Gignac, who finished last season as Ligue 1′s top goalscorer and has already scored some crucial goals for France in qualifying.

The midfield is where the magic will hopefully take place; Franck Ribery, Yoann Gourcuff, Hatem Ben Afra and an in form Florent Malouda. Every single one of those named can make a real difference for France. Gourcuff is a fantastic crosser of the ball while he also boasts fantastic awareness and vision in a player-maker role, Malouda is a menace down the left flank and will be a thorn in most right-backs side, while former Marseille man, Franck Ribery, could really make the difference in South Africa providing he puts his off-pitch dramas to one side and concentrates more on his football. We must not forget Lassana Diarra and Jeremy Toulanan, who both play a pivotal role in that famous France defensive-midfielder slot.

In goal we have a talented Hugo Lloris, who has been excelling in France with Lyon and really does look a talented prospect for the future. His defence, however, does leave a lot to be believed with Patrice Evra the only reliable defender in front of Lloris. The positives about France’s defence is Evra and Cissokho are great at getting forward and providing a threat down the wings. However, this does leave them vulnerable on the counter while they’ve yet to really find a centre-back partnership which really works. The defence is a troublesome area for the French and could very well be their achilles heel in South Africa.

Strengths

The amount of quality Raymond Domench has at his disposal is bewildering yet to achieve so little with them in recent competitions is baffling. We could go on and on quoting world-class players that play for France; Theirry Henry (Captain) the all-time leading French goalscorer, Franck Ribery, Nicolas Anelka, all are established footballers in the modern game but when they take to the field for France, they just don’t seem to click. Hopefully that will change in South Africa, only time will tell.

Weaknesses

The problem we can see arising is when France need a goal, at that will arise at some point believe you me, we wouldn’t have any confidence in France lifting their game and asserting a bit of pressure on their opponents. They’ll be times when they need to raise their game and race through the gears, and while they do have the inventory to do such a feat, they never do. Moreover, the French are accustomed to disappointing us and their French followers these days, so another lacklustre campaign in South Africa wouldn’t be at all surprising.

France Qualification for the World Cup

Sector: Europe

Group: 7

Position: 2nd (Qualified via a 2-1 victory over Republic of Ireland in a play-off)

Win-Draw-Lose: 6-3-1

Goals Scored: 18

Goals Conceded: 9

France Qualifying statistics:

• France had to rely on a wide-spread of goalscorers to get them through an awkward group 7 , with Gignac & Henry sharing the top goalscorer honour with just four goals each.
• Austria were the only nation to beat France during qualifying, with Domenech’s under fire France losing their opening qualifier 3-1 in Vienna.
• France ended the group unbeaten in nine before losing 1-0 at home to Republic of Ireland in the qualifiers, a defeat which ended an unbeaten run of 10 for France.
• Over half of France’s victories in qualifying came via a NIL scoreline, so a tidy defence has been the basis for their successful qualification bid.
• Only Thierry Henry and Bakari Sagna played every qualifier, including the two-legged play-off with ROI. 

World Cup Potential: 3/5

France aren’t high up on our list of possible outright winners but they will be a contender nevertheless. They have a host of big names which can turn any match on it’s head and decide the huge encounters with one gifted strike of the ball. They are a team that will need to hit the ground running, though, and a sluggish start could spell the end before the tournament has even got into it’s stride, although, the last time France won their opening game was back in 1998. The same year France went on to record their first ever World Cup outright win. An outside chance certainly, but others with stronger claims are preferred.

France World Cup Betting Odds

France to win the World Cup: 100/1 – SportingBet

Before the World Cup the odds on France were 18/1 

Official France World Cup Squad

Goalkeepers

Hugo Lloris (Olympique Lyon)

Steve Mandanda (Olympique Marseille)

Cédric Carrasso (Girondins Bordeaux)

Defenders

Anthony Réveillère (Olympique Lyon)

Bacary Sagna (Arsenal)

William Gallas (Arsenal)

Gaël Clichy (Arsenal)

Éric Abidal (Barcelona)

Sébastien Squillaci (Seville)

Patrice Evra (Manchester United)

Marc Planus (Girondins Bordeaux)

Midfielders

Franck Ribéry (Bayern Munich)

Jéremy Toulalan (Olympique Lyon)

Alou Diarra (Girondins Bordeaux)

Florent Malouda (Chelsea)

Yoann Gourcuff (Girondins Bordeaux)

Abou Diaby (Arsenal)

Sidney Govou (Olympique Lyon)

Mathieu Valbuena (Olympique Marseille)

Strikers

Thierry Henry (Barcelona)

Nicolas Anelka (Chelsea)

Djibril Cissé (Panathinaikos Athen)

André-Pierre Gignac (Toulouse)

last update: 18 June 2010

World Cup 2010 France Fixtures – Group A

World Cup 2010 Group A - Table

World Cup Fixtures and Results

France

The scenario for both France and South Africa is clear. Both need a good win, and both need someone to turn out victorious in the other Group A match of Mexico v Uruguay. Not only that, because France and South Africa have poor goal differences, they would also need Mexico or Uruguay to win quite heavily. It doesn’t paid a pretty, or a hopeful picture for either, but neither side are doing their own hopes much favours at the moment. It is Les Miserables for the French at the moment, after they suffered a bruising defeat against Mexico in their second group match. There was further bad news for the French, after a dressing room bust up at half time, which resulted in Chelsea striker Nicolas Anelka firing off a tirade of expletives at his coach, apparently. Anelka was subsequently sent home after refusing to apologise. This was all because, according to Domenech, Anelka had been wandering out of position and was the cause of the problems with the team. It seems a little harsh as the other twelve players who took part in the match on the night, didn’t exactly cover themselves in glory.

In a way, it is a fitting end to the reign of Raymond Domenech, who has never been a popular figure with French fans, nor, at times, the French players themselves. He is a controversial figure, and many believe he was never the right choice in the first place to take charge of the national side. It is all coming to an end though for Domenech, as Laurent Blanc takes over at the end of the World Cup. There have been reports that Domenech had a bust up with Anelka’s Chelsea team mate Florent Malouda on the training ground, a player who Domenech has not shown a lot of faith in. The Chelsea winger had to sit on the bench for their opening fixture as Domenech tinkered with the team again. Domenech also decided to drop Yoann Gourcuff from the starting eleven against Mexico, even though the youngster is regarded to be the most creatively influential ace in their midfield pack. The quality of players France have in their squad, suggests that they are capable of so much more, and this could be a very sorry ending to their World Cup dreams.

France World Cup betting. Should France beat South Africa? You would look at their FIFA rankings and the competitive football which has been played over the last twelve months and you would still have to say yes. If a team is going to edge the match on quality then it will be France. But are the players really interested? They will miss Toulalan, who is suspended, and who knows what Domenech will do for the final match. He may even drop more of his stars, just to make a statement. If the game comes down to heart and playing for a bit of pride, then France may again, leave the match empty handed. They would probably be happy with a draw, if they cared, so find something that reflects that, like a short Asian Handicap, or straight outright draw.

France World Cup 2010 Stats
Played: P2, W0, D1, L1
GF/GA: 0/2
Cards: Y5, R0
Most Shots: Nicolas Anelka, 8
Top Scorer: N/A
Shots/On Goal: 31/7
Fouls Committed: 43
Total Passes: 1013
Pass Completion: 69%

South Africa

South Africa have not lived up to the expectations of a host nation, but maybe they have fulfilled exactly what was expected of them. The Bafana Bafana, coached by Carlos Alberto Parreira, were expected to have their hands full before the World Cup started, but after they took a point out of their opening match, expectations naturally began to rise. Lo and behold, they had a point, and they were actually ahead in the match, but after a crushing 3-0 defeat by Uruguay in their second match, it seems as if that opening night was fuelled mainly be adrenalin. South Africa looked completely out of their depth against Uruguay, for who, ex Manchester United striker Diego Forlan hit a brace. The Bafana Bafana were simply not at the races on that night, and the defeat has left then scrapping it out for the wooden spoon along with France in Group A. Mathematically they can still qualify, but the need to beat France well for starters, and even that is hard to see happening. Even though France look dejected and falling apart at the seams, the quality in depth in South African football is not there, and that was as clear as day against Uruguay.

The Bafana Bafana will play with a lot of heart in their final group match, hoping to give the home crowds something to cheer about. It is this alone which may be able to raise them up to get the win over a downtrodden French side, but as with any football match, you still need the quality to pull it off. There is an air of parity about this match, France edging the quality, South Africa edging the passion. Put it all together and you will probably have a draw, even though both teams should be going for gold and hoping that a win, which offers a slight chance of qualification, will come their way .This is the World Cup after all, and there are bound to be some more twists. South Africa, if they fail, will become the first host nation ever to not make it to the second round of the tournament. That is a cruel claim to fame for them to have on their shoulders, as they are a nation with heart and pride. Sadly, the football standards, simply are not good enough.

South Africa World Cup betting. If the French cannot pick themselves up off the floor, then South Africa have every chance of nicking this one. They will probably be the liveliest of the two, so look at a Draw No Bet on them may be worth a look at. Otherwise find a nice Asian handicap, probably around no more than +1 for some decent value, and hope that they can at least get a draw out of the proceedings and leave the competition with their heads held high.

South Africa World Cup 2010 Stats
Played: P2, W0, D1, L1
GF/GA: 1/4
Cards: Y4, R0
Most Shots: Three players, 4
Top Scorer: Siphiwe Tshabalala
Shots/On Goal: 19/8
Fouls Committed: 31
Total Passes: 931
Pass Completion: 73%

France v South Africa Betting Odds

France to win: 11/10 at Bet365
Draw: 13/5 at Ladbrokes
South Africa to win: 3/1 at Totesport

Asian Handicap Betting Tip: Not too much in terms of decent value floating around on this one, simply because the bookmakers are unsure of which France is going to turn up. France should still edge the match from a betting point of view, but they still don’t have a lot of goals in them. So backing South Africa in a plus may be a bit safer than taking France as a minus.
South Africa +0.50 for 8/11 at  Paddy Power
 

South Africa V France Odds:

The heavily criticised Raymond Domenech was sharpening his axe this week, as his original 30-man provisional squad was cut to just 24. It was only last week that Domenech called up no less than 30 players to the French fold, yet not even a week has passed and six have already seen their World Cup dreams dashed.

Hatem Ben Afra, a player with a big future, was the notable exclusion, although Mickael Landreau of Lille was also sent home. The remaining four casualties were Adil Rami, Rod Fanni, Yann M’Vila and Jimmy Briand.

Both Patrick Viera and Karim Benzema were ruled out of the 2010 World Cup as Raymond Domenech opted against using either when naming his original 30-man provisional squad, raising more eyebrows back home.

With six now out of South Africa contention, Raymond Domenech needs only to make one more cut before his French squad is down to the allocated amount of 23 players. So, with a couple of weeks still left before Domenech has to officially announce his 23-man France squad, which player will receive Domenech’s final kiss of death?

Raymond Domenech will announce his final 23-man squad on 27th May before they head off for a training camp in Tunisia.

Raymond Domenech has never sat well with the overall majority of the French public, so we wonder how the news went down when Karim Benzema wasn’t included in a 30-man preliminary squad ahead of the finals in South Africa, which are now less than a month away.

The big news from France yesterday afternoon was that there would be no Karim Benzema, no Patrick Viera and, to our dismay if we’re honest, no Samir Nasri. We thought the latter shown plenty of promise for Arsenal this season, even if he didn’t have an outstanding seasons on the whole. Viera was never going to make the team in our eyes, time has unfortunately caught up with the former France 1998 World Cup winner, and despite a late switch to Man City in January, Viera’s bid to impress Domenech has failed. Benzema, though, was omitted from a pretty huge squad of talented names, although a poor seasons in the Spaniah La Liga with Real Madrid looks to have been the killer for the former Lyon star.

In terms of some surprise inclusions, there weren’t too many. A small chuckle of laughter did break out at the sight of Djibril Cisse in the team, although, to Cisse’s credit he has enjoyed a fruitful season over in Panathinakos, Greece. Andre-Pierre Gignac is perhaps one of a few names that won’t look at all familiar, but he’s been a proven goalscorer over in France and has shown his worth in the few qualifiers he participated in, scoring a couple of goals in only a handful of appearances. He’s a bulky figure, dangerous from the air, and is a player which will be a handful.

Those playing in the English Premier League that were selected for duty were; Gael Clichy (Arsenal), Patrice Evra (Man Utd), William Gallas (Arsenal), Bacary sagna (Arsenal), Abou Diaby (Arsenal), Florent Malouda (Chelsea) and Nicolas Anelka (Chelsea).

Thierry Henry, who has hardly been in glittering form for Barcelona over in Spain, was given the nod, as well was Franck Ribery, who has had plenty of off-pitch drama to perhaps justify his absence from the squad, but the Bayern Munich winger was selected.

Raymond Domenech will first need to cut his squad down to size, reducing the 30-man squad to just 23 before the 1st of June. His first World Cup game, however, is against Uruguay on the opening day of the tournament before clashes with Mexico and hosts South Africa.

France 30-man Preliminary Squad:

Goalkeepers: Cedric Carrasso, Mickael Landreau, Hugo Lloris, Steve Mandanda

Defenders: Eric Abidal, Gael Clichy, Patrice Evra, Rod Fanni, William Gallas, Marc Planus, Adil Rami, Anthony Reveillere, Bacary Sagna, Sebastien Squillaci

Midfielders: Abou Diaby, Alou Diarra, Lassana Diarra, Yoann Gourcuff, Yann M’Vila, Florent Malouda, Jeremy Toulalan

Forwards: Nicolas Anelka, Hatem Ben Arfa, Jimmy Briand, Djibril Cisse, Andre-Pierre Gignac, Sidney Govou, Thierry Henry, Franck Ribery, Mathieu Valbuena

Manager: Raymond Domenech
Captain: Thierry Henry
FIFA World Ranking: 10
World Cup Appearances: 12
Best World Cup: Winners – 1998

France Article

France Team Profile

The 1998 World Cup winners will have high hopes of winning another World Cup in South African but, however, could count themselves lucky to even be in the tournament after they qualified not only via a play-off but also under controversial circumstances. The French beat the Republic of Ireland 2-1, although their eventual winners didn’t come until late into extra-time and it was adied via the hand of Thierry Henry before William Galls nodded home to send France to South Africa, at the expense of a glum ROI.

Henry’s part in France qualifying sparked uproar amongst not only with the Irish FA but also with neutrals from all around the globe, and France might not be welcomed as warmly as some of the other European nations in South Africa. To add to the hostility, even the French supporters aren’t best pleased with their squad of underachievers as their displays in qualifying where bewilderingly bad at times, and the fact that it took a dubious goal to seal their qualification doesn’t sit well with the French fans, as they’ve had it in for Raymond Domenech for a while now, pretty much ever since their poor showing at Euro 2008 at which France didn’t even make it pass the group stage of the competition.

The French, though, remain a big contender for the crown regardless of their lacklustre qualifying campaign. Their squad is jam-packed with world class quality, whilst they generally tend to do well on the big stage, with the exception of their poor showing in their last major event – the European Champions in 2008. They will have a big point to prove, though, not only after their disappointing 2008 but to also make amends for their sluggish campaign throughout qualifying, as many French fans have lost faith in Domenech’s regime.

Nickname: Les Bleus (The Blues)

France Key Players

We’ll start with their influential captain, although in fairness Thierry Henry has done little to raise the morale in the France camp of late despite lending a helping hand… literally!

The French captain is the all-time leading scorer for his country with 51 goals in 118 appearances which, considering he looks as though he might carry on playing for France for a couple more years, could see him notch up a few more international caps before he hangs his boots up. There is no doubting the Va-va-voom star used to have unenviable talent when he was at Arsenal, enjoying arguably the best spell of his career in England, but since joining Barcelona, Henry hasn’t been the same and certainly hasn’t been as instrumental for France as fans would have hoped. Even so, Henry still has more going for himself than many others and remains a key player in the final third.

Now the final third, the attacking third, is where France look their strongest on paper yet so often you hear about France struggling to convert their array of striking options into regular goals, even against the smaller fish. Up front Domenech could take any number of forwards to South Africa with him; Djibril Cisse – enjoying one of his best spells in his career in Greece currently and his pace could be useful even if his finishing has never been clinical. Nicolas Anelka is unquestionably the best forward France have right now but even Les Sulk is going through a patchy spell at the moment, with goals drying up at the latter end of the season with Chelsea, so their pivotal forward doesn’t exactly come to South Africa with bags of momentum and confidence, and Anelka has always been a confidence sort of guy. The new guy on the scene comes in the form of a bulky forward, not in the mould of any previous France forwad stars in Andre-Pierre Gignac, who finished last season as Ligue 1′s top goalscorer and has already scored some crucial goals for France in qualifying.

The midfield is where the magic will hopefully take place; Franck Ribery, Yoann Gourcuff, Hatem Ben Afra and an in form Florent Malouda. Every single one of those named can make a real difference for France. Gourcuff is a fantastic crosser of the ball while he also boasts fantastic awareness and vision in a player-maker role, Malouda is a menace down the left flank and will be a thorn in most right-backs side, while former Marseille man, Franck Ribery, could really make the difference in South Africa providing he puts his off-pitch dramas to one side and concentrates more on his football. We must not forget Lassana Diarra and Jeremy Toulanan, who both play a pivotal role in that famous France defensive-midfielder slot.

In goal we have a talented Hugo Lloris, who has been excelling in France with Lyon and really does look a talented prospect for the future. His defence, however, does leave a lot to be believed with Patrice Evra the only reliable defender in front of Lloris. The positives about France’s defence is Evra and Cissokho are great at getting forward and providing a threat down the wings. However, this does leave them vulnerable on the counter while they’ve yet to really find a centre-back partnership which really works. The defence is a troublesome area for the French and could very well be their achilles heel in South Africa.

Strengths

The amount of quality Raymond Domench has at his disposal is bewildering yet to achieve so little with them in recent competitions is baffling. We could go on and on quoting world-class players that play for France; Theirry Henry (Captain) the all-time leading French goalscorer, Franck Ribery, Nicolas Anelka, all are established footballers in the modern game but when they take to the field for France, they just don’t seem to click. Hopefully that will change in South Africa, only time will tell.

Weaknesses

The problem we can see arising is when France need a goal, at that will arise at some point believe you me, we wouldn’t have any confidence in France lifting their game and asserting a bit of pressure on their opponents. They’ll be times when they need to raise their game and race through the gears, and while they do have the inventory to do such a feat, they never do. Moreover, the French are accustomed to disappointing us and their French followers these days, so another lacklustre campaign in South Africa wouldn’t be at all surprising.

France Qualification for the World Cup

Sector: Europe

Group: 7

Position: 2nd (Qualified via a 2-1 victory over Republic of Ireland in a play-off)

Win-Draw-Lose: 6-3-1

Goals Scored: 18

Goals Conceded: 9

France Qualifying statistics:

• France had to rely on a wide-spread of goalscorers to get them through an awkward group 7 , with Gignac & Henry sharing the top goalscorer honour with just four goals each.
• Austria were the only nation to beat France during qualifying, with Domenech’s under fire France losing their opening qualifier 3-1 in Vienna.
• France ended the group unbeaten in nine before losing 1-0 at home to Republic of Ireland in the qualifiers, a defeat which ended an unbeaten run of 10 for France.
• Over half of France’s victories in qualifying came via a NIL scoreline, so a tidy defence has been the basis for their successful qualification bid.
• Only Thierry Henry and Bakari Sagna played every qualifier, including the two-legged play-off with ROI. 

World Cup Potential: 3/5

France aren’t high up on our list of possible outright winners but they will be a contender nevertheless. They have a host of big names which can turn any match on it’s head and decide the huge encounters with one gifted strike of the ball. They are a team that will need to hit the ground running, though, and a sluggish start could spell the end before the tournament has even got into it’s stride, although, the last time France won their opening game was back in 1998. The same year France went on to record their first ever World Cup outright win. An outside chance certainly, but others with stronger claims are preferred.

France World Cup Betting Odds

France to win the World Cup: 100/1 – SportingBet

Before the World Cup the odds on France were 18/1 

Official France World Cup Squad

Goalkeepers

Hugo Lloris (Olympique Lyon)

Steve Mandanda (Olympique Marseille)

Cédric Carrasso (Girondins Bordeaux)

Defenders

Anthony Réveillère (Olympique Lyon)

Bacary Sagna (Arsenal)

William Gallas (Arsenal)

Gaël Clichy (Arsenal)

Éric Abidal (Barcelona)

Sébastien Squillaci (Seville)

Patrice Evra (Manchester United)

Marc Planus (Girondins Bordeaux)

Midfielders

Franck Ribéry (Bayern Munich)

Jéremy Toulalan (Olympique Lyon)

Alou Diarra (Girondins Bordeaux)

Florent Malouda (Chelsea)

Yoann Gourcuff (Girondins Bordeaux)

Abou Diaby (Arsenal)

Sidney Govou (Olympique Lyon)

Mathieu Valbuena (Olympique Marseille)

Strikers

Thierry Henry (Barcelona)

Nicolas Anelka (Chelsea)

Djibril Cissé (Panathinaikos Athen)

André-Pierre Gignac (Toulouse)

last update: 18 June 2010

World Cup 2010 France Fixtures – Group A

World Cup Group A - Table

World Cup Fixtures and Results

World Cup Group of France