Recent Euro Tournaments -
2000 - Champions
2004 – Quarter Finals
2008 – finished bottom of the group

With France’s spectacular capitulation in South Africa still fresh in the memory, the new guard have now been tasked with restoring pride into the blue shirt. With only three players in the preliminary squad aged above 30, France will have one of the youngest teams at the tournament. Out with the old, in with the new.

France’s route to Poland/Ukraine was certainly not a walk in the park – they only finished one point clear of Bosnia-Herzegovina, thanks to a 78th minute penalty from Samir Nasri salvaging a 1-1 draw against their challengers in the final qualification game. With that said, you have to go back to 2010 to find their last defeat, so they have still proved hard to beat.

Injuries to Younes Kaboul and Bacary Sagna have harmed the defensive stocks, but with the likes of Adil Rami, Laurent Koscielny and Anthony Reveillere ready to step in, depth looks to be no problem for the French. Indeed, their backline has been their strongest point, with one of the meanest defences in the qualification stage.

The midfield boasts a plethora of talent however, in both the offensive and defensive departments. Ben Arfa, Ribery, Nasri, Valbuena, Gourcuff  will all augment the attack, whilst the likes of M’Vila, Matuidi, Diarra and Cabaye will dictate from deep.

Goals, however, could prove to be an issue. Of the teams who sealed automatic qualification from the group, only Greece scored fewer goals.

In the preliminary squad, only Karim Benzema is in double figures for the national team, and even he only sports a modest 13 goals in 42 matches. Nobody scored more than 3 goals in the 10 group stage games either, so a regular source of goals has not yet been found. Alongside Benzema, much will rely on Oliver Giroud and Loic Remy, who will both be entering the tournament high on confidence, with the pair boasting 40 goals between them last season. 

Franck Ribery, despite coming off a very successful domestic season with Bayern Munich (he was involved in 24 goals in 27 appearances), has struggled in recent years to have much of an impact with the national side.  In fact, you have to look back in excess of three years to find his last goal on the international stage. If the flying winger finds some form similar to that he displayed in a Bayern shirt this season, he’ll go a long way to ailing his teams scoring woes.

Fun Fact - The antithesis of England, France have never tasted defeat in their first group game. As such, Les Blues will be feeling confident going into their first match.

Prediction – A stern backline and the lion’s share of possession in all three group games will see them top their group.

Key Man – France’s qualification success was built on a terrific defensive record, and the most important component of such success comes in the form of Hugo Lloris. He conceded only four goals in the 10 qualifying games, keeping six clean sheets along the way. The captain’s armband just further symbolises his importance to his national side.