FRANCE
FIFA World Ranking: 2
Previous Best: Winners 1984 & 2000
Last 5 Euros (Latest first): RU-QF-Groups-QF-Winners
How Qualified: Winners Group H
Qualifying Record: P10 W8 D1 L1 F25 A6 GD19 Pts25
Tournament Odds: 5/1
Squad
Goalkeepers: Hugo Lloris (Tottenham), Mike Maignan (Milan), Steve Mandanda (Marseille)
Defenders: Lucas Digne (Everton), Léo Dubois (Lyon), Lucas Hernández (Bayern), Presnel Kimpembe (Paris), Jules Koundé (Sevilla), Clément Lenglet (Barcelona), Benjamin Pavard (Bayern), Raphaël Varane (Real Madrid), Kurt Zouma (Chelsea)
Midfielders: Kingsley Coman (Bayern), N’Golo Kanté (Chelsea), Thomas Lemar (Atlético Madrid), Paul Pogba (Manchester United), Adrien Rabiot (Juventus), Moussa Sissoko (Tottenham), Corentin Tolisso (Bayern)
Forwards: Wissam Ben Yedder (Monaco), Karim Benzema (Real Madrid), Ousmane Dembélé (Barcelona), Olivier Giroud (Chelsea), Antoine Griezmann (Barcelona), Kylian Mbappé (Paris), Marcus Thuram (Mönchengladbach)
Group Fixtures
June 15 vs Germany (8pm – Munich)
June 19 vs Hungary (2pm – Budapest)
June 23 vs Portugal (8pm – Budapest)
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History
France can’t quite match the wins of Germany and Spain in this competition throughout its history. They have two wins with theirs coming in 1984 and 2000, the former when they were the hosts. They were expected to win as the host nation in 2016 but Portugal didn’t read that script and they were the ones to come away from Paris with the win. As well as those runs to the final, France were beaten semi-finalists in Euro96 when the Czech Republic pulled off the ultimate upset. This is a tournament which the reigning world champions tend to fare very strongly in.
Qualifying
As you would expect, France qualified with consummate ease. They were expected to do that with the second seeds in their section being Iceland, who they dispatched emphatically in the quarter final of the last Euros. France made it through losing just one game along the way, one which came in Turkey which isn’t a dreadful result. They dominated the group after that with Turkey the only team to take further points off them throughout qualifying. Olivier Giroud was their top scorer in qualifying. He bagged himself six goals.
Pandemic Effect
It is hard to argue that France look stronger after the pandemic because they were mighty strong looking a year ago but they don’t appear to be any weaker on paper at least. You could argue now that they have been able to recall Karim Benzema, they will go into the tournament stronger although that would be a little harsh on those who would have been called up had Didier Deschamps been restricted to a 23-man squad. There is nothing in the form in the last 12 months to suggest that France are any weaker.
Strengths
You could look all over the pitch for where France are the strongest but you would have to suggest that with Bemzema added to the ranks again that their attack might just be the most fearsome of the entire competition with the likes of Kylian Mbappe and Antoine Griezmann already guaranteed stars of the event. This is a French squad who could have a Champions League winner last season in Kingsley Coman to come off the bench, not to mention plenty of other exciting attacking stars. Man for man this French squad looks the strongest in the competition.
Weaknesses
If there is an area of concern in this French side it might be between the sticks where Hugo Lloris has more mistakes in him than he used to have and the other two keepers leave a little to be desired. The other thing you could consider a weakness would be their group draw which is the worst it could have been, although the flip side of that is that if they if they do make it out of the group then the path to the latter stages would be a lot smoother than for other sides.
Manager
Didier Deschamps did everything as a player and he will have won the two major competitions as a manager if he can guide France to the title here as he was in charge for their World Cup win three years ago. He hasn’t always been the most popular French manager going but that World Cup win bought him a lot more respect. He can sometimes be accused of having his favourites and shackling his best talents but he has a record which speaks for itself. His France record reads: P111 W73 D20 L18.
Key Players
If France are going to win this tournament it is hard to imagine Kylian Mbappe not starring at some point. The Paris Saint Germain flyer is arguably the most exciting talent in world football at the present time and he lit up the World Cup three years ago. The other man who you would imagine will shine brightly in any French success is Antoine Griezmann, with the Barcelona forward having that unique talent of being able to create for others while being deadly in front of goal.
Team Bets
France are the overwhelming favourites to win this tournament despite the tough group that they are in. Yes there will be tough assignments along the way but it could be that being in this group is a good thing because should they get out of it they wouldn’t face anyone in it until the semi-finals as opposed to meeting them earlier if they weren’t in this group. Given that there is likely to be a strong run from France at these finals I’m lured to their total goals market where I’m amazed we can get over 7.5 at even money.
If France make the final, whether they win the final or not, they will play seven matches in this tournament so all they are being asked is to score a goal a game with one on top somewhere along the line. That feels very much in their compass but actually even if they don’t make the final their group isn’t as hard as it looks from a potential scoring point of view. Hungary aren’t particularly defensively proficient and neither are Germany so France could score more than expected in the group stage. It might be that they come out of the group only needing a couple of goals to cover this total and should they win the group they face a third placed side in the round of 16. I expect this line to get covered.
Tips
Back France Over 7.5 tournament goals for a 3/10 stake at 2.00 with Bet365
