France versus Brazil, international friendly, preview
France
One of the most standout matches of the international friendly encounters mid-week is scheduled to take place between France and Brazil at Stade de France in Paris between the two teams, who made it to the final match of the 1998 FIFA World Cup.
France come to the match in high spirits but Les Blues are currently in a transitional phase after their disappointing show at FIFA 2010 World Cup. Laurent Blanc, the French coach has taken up the task of reforming the team, which got knocked out of the
World Cup in the group stages after losing to Mexico. Interestingly enough, France have been in fantastic form after the FIFA 2010 World Cup.
Out of their last five encounters in the international arena, France have won four whilst their only defeat came against Belarus in September of 2010. Since then, Laurent Blanc’s team have gone on to win four matches on the trot. In their last friendly encounter,
France bested a resurgent English side headed by Fabio Capello by a score line of two goals to one at the Wembley Stadium in London.
Old names such as Thierry Henry have taken a leave from international football for the French but the wounds of South Africa still haunt the former World Cup champions.
Evidently, France do have a long history of fascinating matchups against Brazil, most recently both the teams met in the 2006 FIFA World Cup quarter finals where a Zinedine Zidane led French national team ended up as eventual winners.
However, on Wednesday night, anything will be possible as France might start with Karim Benzema in attack alongside Menez. Both the players are relatively unproven at the international level thus far.
Brazil's attack will be pitted against a staunch French defence, which has only conceded two goals in their last five matches.
Brazil
After facing early departure in the quarter final stages of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, Brazil are scouting their immense talent pool for a suitable starting eleven, which will take them to glory in the 2014 World Cup.
The friendly against France comes at the right time for Brazil’s coach, Mario Menezes, as he will be looking to try and test with some of the newer players in his squad.
Mario has called up Rafael Da Silva from Manchester United but most importantly the squad that is scheduled to face France does not contain Ronaldinho, who made his move to Brazilian football over the winter transfer window from A.C. Milan.
Nonetheless, Brazil’s international endeavours since the defeat to Netherlands in the quarter final of the 2010 World Cup have been few and far between.
The five time World Champions have only played four matches since the World Cup, their latest friendly encounter resulted in a defeat to Argentina as Lionel Messi netted a late winner for the South American giants. Additionally, Brazil have won three out
of their last four international fixtures. In doing so, they have scored a total of seven goals in four matches.
Another surprising exclusion from the Brazilian national team squad is the Real Madrid midfielder, Ricardo Kaka. Despite being fit for his club side, Kaka was not included in the squad to face France by Mario Menezes.
It will be interesting to see how Brazil line up but traditionally the Selecao have adopted the strategy of “offensive is the best defence”.
Team news
Brazil are expected to line up with two strikers up front thus Alexandre Pato and Robinho are favourites to start for the former World Champions. Moreover, Julio Cesar has been called up by Mario Menezes for the first time since his World Cup debacle against
Holland, thus the Inter Milan goalie will also start for the Selecao.
Expected line up: Julio Cesar, Daniel Alves, Thiago Silva, David Luiz, Andre Santos, Hernanes, Lucas Leiva, Elías, Renato Augusto, Alexandre Pato, Robinho
Alternatively, France is expected to start with Gael Clichy at the left back spot after Evra was once again excluded from the French national team squad.
Laurent Koscielny has also earned a surprise call up for his contribution to Arsenal’s Premier League title race. Up front, Benzema is a favourite to start as he has been on fire for Real Madrid in the Spanish Primera Division.
Expected line up: Hugo Lloris, Bacary Sagna, Philip Mexes, Laurent Koscielny, Gael Clichy, Alou Diarra, Abou Diaby, Yoann Gourcuff, Florent Malouda, Menez, Karim Benzema
Key players
The French national team has been short of goals in their previous matches but Florent Malouda’s form for his national side has been spectacular to say the least. He netted Les Blues’ only goal in the FIFA World Cup and also scored in France’s win over England
in their last friendly matchup. He will be the man to watch as far as the French national team is concerned.
In contrast, the Brazilian squad is brimming with talent but Robinho is the x-factor for the former World Champions. Since his move to A.C. Milan, he has rediscovered his form.
The former Manchester City forward is set to start alongside his club teammate Alexandre Pato. Both have the potential to form an incredibly deadly combination against the French national team.
Prediction
Playing on their home turf, French are the favourites to get the win in this matchup. Despite the attacking talent that Brazil possess in the final third of the field, their midfield area lacks strength and depth due to some noticeable absentees. As a result,
a 1-0 win is expected for Laurent Blanc’s team.
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