France

www.france.com

World Ranking 7

Squad

Team Review

Frances squad is looking good at the minute with players like Franck Ribery lighting up their domestic leagues plus they have strength in depth so if any injuries where to occur they have ample back up which is why I believe France will go far during this summers tournament.

Star Man

Franck Ribery, is the catalyst of the French team of late with players such as Henry taking a back seat as he has been in the form of his life!
The trickery and guile he possesses means he can create chances for himself and others out of nothing which is always a big plus on the international stage, and need in the latter rounds when things get tough.

Also check out who we think will be the 'players to watch' in the tournament

Tournament History

Match Reports

Romania 0 - 0 France

Before the game I could only really see one outcome and that was France winning comfortably but the Romanians proved my wrong a ground out a goalless draw with the world cup finalists of 2006.

The game wasn’t one for the neutral as there were very few clear cut opportunities for either team except for a first half header that went over the bar from Anelka who is not known for his heading ability.

The game did start to pick up in the second half but again there were no real chances mustered by either team and with half an hour still left to go it seemed the game was inevitably going to finish as a nil-nil draw.

From a Romanian perspective they set out to exactly what happened and that was to frustrate France and keep 11 men behind the ball as much as possible. France were poor all game and never looked like they were going to penetrate the well drilled Romanian defence who to be honest never looked a threat going forward either.

All in all the game was dire and certainly not a game to remember so I think im going to leave it at that.

Netherlands 4 - 1 France

(Kuyt 9, Van Persie 59, Robben 72, Sneijder 90+2) (Henry 30)

Marco Van Basten's faith in his country's footballing traditions brought reward. The Dutch took the tournament by storm with this performance scoring 4 past a fancied French team and only letting in 1 solitary goal.

The first goal was scored by Liverpool front man Dirk Kuyt, the second, Arsenal's Robin Van Persie with his first touch off the bench, and the third was scored by former Chelsea flier Arjen Robben. His magnificent Real Madrid team-mate Wesley Sneijder illuminated an evening of captivating football by capping off a brilliant display with the fourth goal which he took very well.Not bad for Holland’s first group game. Frances conciliation goal was scored by the out of sorts Thierry Henry who has not been in great form this season for Barcelona and has carried it on during this tournament.

France 0 - 2 Italy

(Pirlo 25(pen), De Rossi 62)

Football is still, by and large, an honest game and last night, as Raymond Domenech began walking the international plank and Thierry Henry's terrible year plummeted to a new low, Italy came back from the brink of elimination to inflict the same thing on their opponents France.

The gods were looking down on Italy as in the first 10 minutes Frances most influential player Franck Ribery had to be taken off then 10 minutes after Barcelona defender Eric Abidal fouled Toni in the box and gave away a penalty but to make matters worse he was also deemed to have been the last man and was subsequently sent off leaving France with 10 men and their star player injured.

Andrea Pirlo lashed the penalty kick into the top corner with Coupet having no chance and if the French thought things couldn’t get any worse, they did as a Daniele De Rossi free-kick was deflected into his own net by Henry, coupled with Romania's defeat at the hands of Holland's second string, meant that the French were Knocked out in the group stages and consequently humiliated.