Luxembourg vs. France: Euro 2012 Qualifier Preview
Luc Holtz’s Luxembourg side takes on Laurent Blanc’s Les Bleus in a Euro 2012 qualifier at the Stade Josy Barthel in Luxembourg City on Friday, 25th March. The reverse fixture in the campaign resulted in an easy 2-0 victory for France courtesy two goals
from Karim Benzema and http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Yoann-Gourcuff-c37416.
Luxembourg
The http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Red-Lions-c40348 have had a miserable qualifying campaign thus far and currently sit at the bottom of the Group D with only one point. They have lost three of the four games played so far and have managed to draw one.
Luxembourg’s defeats came at the hands of Bosnia-Herzegovina, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Belarus-c2849 side.
The home side managed to shock World Cup contestants Slovakia 2-1 in an International Friendly last month. The De Roude Leiw are unbeaten in their last two matches and will be looking to improve on that record against France.
France
Les Bleus have put last year’s controversial World Cup campaign behind them and have been consistent under new manager Laurent Blanc. The French are currently leading Group D with nine points and have won three out of the four games played in the qualifying
campaign.
Blanc’s side have been brilliant after the early exit from last year’s World Cup and have won all of their last five matches. They have scored a superb nine goals in the process while conceding just one. The victories include wins over http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/England-c749
which makes the feat even more impressive.
Team News
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Luxembourg-c2945
The home side is expected to start with Aurelien Joachim as the lone striker upfront with Gilles Bettmer playing just behind him. http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Charles-Leweck-c8823 and Gerson will provide attacking support from the wings.
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/France-c2899
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Florent-Malouda-c13838
will start on their respective wings.
Players to watch
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Daniel-Da-Mota-c9938
The striker scored both the goals in the brilliant win against http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Slovakia-c3007 last month and will be looking to repeat his superb performance against a tougher opposition this time.
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Karim-Benzema-c20350
The Frenchman has been in sensational form of late for Real Madrid and has scored 21 goals for the Los Blancos this season. He will be the main threat in attack and will hope to carry on with the goal spree with his national team as well.
The former Lyon striker will be eager to make his mark at the international level by leading his side to victory.
Prediction
Luxembourg are coming from a 2-1 win over Slovakia and will be high on confidence but Les Bleus have been in terrific form in the campaign and a victory for the hosts is highly unlikely. France are expected to win the clash comfortably with a 3-0 score line.
Tags: