Bonjour mes amis! Bienvenue au prevue de l’equipe Francais!

I have a soft spot for France. I love the country, I actually like French people and have been to a few matches there and they definitely have passion for the game. Let’s have a look at the squad that they are bringing to Russiya.

Up front they should be going with Lacazette, Griezmann, and Mbappe. That is a fine trio of attackers right there. Mbappe is very young but he has tremendous skill, he will get more notoriety once Neymar leaves PSG. Oh he gunna leave soon. Of course he is rumoUred to be going to the evil Madrid side because we all know they don’t develop players at their academy, they just buy what they want. Having said that Griezmann is out the door at Athletico at the end of the season and he looks to be headed to Barca who did not develop him….

In the middle of the pitch they have the enigmatic Paul Pogba who seems to always look interested when he’s playing for Les Bleus. I can’t really speak of his time at Manchester United as my disdain for that side clouds my judgement. On his day he can completely control the midfield as defenders live in fear of his pace. Rabiot and Kante make up the defending midfield and both are extremely talented and should fare well on the big stage. With France it seems to always be the question of whether they can get on the same page and not have the usual gaffe that the French midfield has been known for lately.

The back four are passable but not electrifying. Kurzawa, Umiti, Varane and Sidibe can get the job done, and I guess you really don’t want to know your defenders names because usually it means that they have performed like garbage.

Manager is Didier Deschamps. Remember him? He was phenomenal back in the day for the French national team. He was hard nosed and was never afraid to come in to a challenge studs high. If he imparts his style with the French team they will be an incredibly tough out.

I left out Olivier Giroud. I did it on purpose.

Fixtures

1. France vs Australia – 16 June 2018 – I have a place in my black soul for Australia but the only shot they have here is if the French start off slow.
2. France vs Peru – 21 June 2018 – I know little about the Peruvians but hey, they made it out of South America! I think that the French will get going here and win by a healthy margin.
3. Denmark vs France – 26 June 2018 – This one could be very tricky depending on how this group plays out. The Danes are crafty and Erikson was the difference against the Irish in their home and home series for who got here.

Prediction: If they gel these guys have the horses to get to the final four. Get the wine and cheese out!

I would do my Irish friends an injustice if I did not include this clip in a preview.

The hand of frog!! That is humoUrous. This was a bullshit no call, and even Thierry admitted so. Whadayagunnado???

Story time! I have been to France quite a few times in my life. It’s really easy travelling if you are a wine and cheese nerd and can speak French. This story has nothing to do with any of that. On the same backpacking trip in 2000 that I spoke of in my Morocco preview I was travelling with a crew but eventually it broke apart except for myself and a young Aussie lassie. We traveled from Andorra to Lyon, making our way to Paris where she was to return home. At our hotel in Lyon we had just done what young, smitten backpackers do and she needed to use the facilities. Of course in 2000 en suite toilets were very rare in cheaper hotels so she had to get dressed and head down the hall. She opened our room door and hung a right to find an old man in a bathrobe revealing himself and driving it like the owner. Aghast she came back in the room and explained this to me. I suited up and went out to confront creepy French guy but he was nowhere to be found. She felt safe so then went to do her business. When she left the bathroom he had returned and now was in between her and our room. I heard her yell my name so I burst out of the bedroom. When I confronted creepy French guy he said in French “I heard your lovemaking and I was inspired”. That’s all well and good buddy but why the hell are you in the hallway?? I told him in not so pleasant French-Canadian slang to GTFO. He then ran back in to his room and Aussie lassie sprinted back to our room. When we told the hotelier in the morning he refunded our money and apologized profusely. In my books it was totally worth it to get a free night for only having to put up with creepy Pierre.

France will go through to the knockout phase and will make a run for the title. It all depends on chemistry as they definitely have the talent.

Fave French performer is Manu Chao. He is a remarkable human being.