FIFA World cup 2010 –France and South Africa meet in a World Cup Showdown
A French side in utter shambles will take on the hosts South Africa in a clash that is threatening to become a dead rubber should Uruguay and Mexico play a drab draw. The Free State stadium in Bloomfontein, will host the two sides hoping for a miracle, as each of them require a win by a minimum margin of four goals to see them progress to the knock out round of the world cup.
The French side after playing a dull draw against Uruguay in their opening game suffered a shock defeat at the hands of Mexico. Which has left them at the brink of elimination from the world cup, while South Africa after a promising start have gone wayward in the competition and are all but dumped out of the competition.
The French side in the last few days has been the joke of the comedians after their star striker Nikolas Anelka of Chelsea was sent home for a breach of discipline. He had a heated exchange of words with his manager Raymond Domenech, during half time in their game against Mexico. As a result, the striker was substituted soon after the restart by Andre Pierre Gignac of Toulouse and the French Football Federation intervened to rule against Anleka and decided to send the marksman home. The dismissal of Anelaka led the French players to boycott team’s training sessions for two days and only after the intervention of French president, they ended the protest and returned to training two days before the game.
The whole episode also led to the resignation of the French Team Director Jean Loius Valintin. There had been rumours of infighting and dressing room rift between the players and the manager even before the start of the tournament. Since the start of the tournament and some high profile omissions by Raymond Domenech from his squad, the whole saga has escalated to a new level and tonight in Bloomfontein, he will require a miracle of mammoth proportions to reverse his side’s fortunes.
Both France and South Africa have secured one point from their previous two games and require beating their opponents at least by 4 goals to secure their qualification to the knock out phase. Should the match between Uruguay and Mexico end in a draw, the result of this match will bear no significance with Uruguay topping the group and Mexico following them into the next round.
South Africa, on the other hand have problems of their own, as they are trying to avoid the humiliation of becoming only the first ever home side to be eliminated from the tournament even before the start of first knock out round. After an impressive draw with Mexico in their first match, their shortcomings were brutally exposed in the 3-0 defeat to Uruguay. In addition, the task at hand has become even more difficult with the suspension of their star goalie Khune and Fulham midfielder Kagisho Dikagoi. Both of whom will be watching the game from sidelines tonight.
France have never been beaten by the Bafana Bafana in three previous meetings, having won twice and drawing the third and their talismanic striker Thierry Henry had started all three of those games. However, tonight in the absence of Anekla, the Barcelona front man is more than likely to start but faces stiff competition from Andre Pierre Gignac.
Henry made his debut against South Africa in a 2-1 friendly win and also scored his first international goal for France against South Africa at the 1998 world cup in his home county.
Coach Carlos Alberto Perrera has never beaten France at the World cup in three previous attempts while in charge of Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Brazil.
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