Euro 2012: France and Portugal aim to avoid further misery
Laurent Blanc’s first competitive match in charge of France was supposed to mark the start of a bright new era, free from the chaotic dark days of Raymond Domenech’s reign.
But instead, it was more of the same at the Stade de France last Friday as Blanc’s side slumped to a humiliating 1-0 defeat against Belarus.
Now keen to make amends for that embarrassing showing in Paris, Blanc and his squad travel to the hostile climes of Sarajevo on Tuesday evening to take on Group D leaders Bosnia and Herzegovina. The hosts have a very talented group of players at their disposal, and Les Blues will need to be at their best to come away from the match with anything.
Which is rather worrying for Blanc, as France are currently stuck in a rut and only just emerging from disarray.
Meanwhile, another nation whose poor start could also continue into this week is Portugal. Manager Carlos Queiroz is currently serving a six-month suspension, Cristiano Ronaldo is injured, and the national side could only draw 4-4 with Cyprus last Friday.
The Portuguese national team travel to Norway looking to get their first three points on the board, but like France, aren’t fancied to enjoy an easy afternoon against tough opposition. The Norwegians currently sit top of Group H after beating Iceland 2-1 last week and will fancy their chances of producing the goods in Oslo.
Elsewhere, in Group A, Turkey and Germany will look to accelerate away from the rest of the pack with wins over Belgium and Azerbaijan respectively. However, the Belgians won’t want to waste the opportunity of picking up a precious three points themselves. Equipped with the most talented squad of players Belgium has seen for years, Guus Hiddink’s Turkey may be in for a rough ride in Istanbul.
Onto Group B, and Russia can retain their place at the top of the pile with victory over Slovakia – providing the Republic of Ireland don’t find their scoring boots against Andorra which, in all probability, they will.
In Group C, Italy will also look to bolster their goal difference with a home tie against Faroe Islands and advance past Serbia to the top of the group. The Serbians will be confident of securing their second consecutive qualifying victory, though, against Slovenia in Belgrade.
As early in the qualification campaign as it may be, Netherlands appear odds-on to reach Euro 2012 after their 5-0 demolition of San Marino, and should make it two wins from two against Finland on Tuesday. Fellow Group E rivals, Sweden, face the San Marino on the same night and are likely to join the Oranje at the top.
In Group F, there’s an intriguing mid-week clash between Croatia and 2004 European Champions Greece. The Croats have a strong squad of player to choose from and will enter the match as favourites, but the Greeks always prove a tough outfit to beat.
And finally, chasing England in Group G are Montenegro. After edging past Wales in their opening qualifier, Zlatko Kranjcar’s side now aim to record their second win in four days against Bulgaria, who England defeated 4-0 last Friday.
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