France vs Belarus will mark Laurent Blanc’s first ever competitive match in charge of Les Bleus and the former Bordeaux manager wants to create something new altogether after taking the team’s managerial role away from the controversial and hated Raymond Domenech. In his coaching debut, Laurent Blanc could afford nothing more than a 2-1 defeat to Norway in a friendly match.
Certainly, this result didn’t mark the best of starts for the French boss whose country seriously needs to recover from the alarming situation in which the national team put itself during the 2010 FIFA World Cup especially. On a technical point of view, France will need to improve from their loss to Norway when they will host Belarus in their Euro 2012 qualifying match on Friday. This should help them to avoid committing errors that lead to defeat.
However, Les Bleus can surely find a lot of positives in terms of mentality and unity. France’s destroyed team spirit got revealed through a humiliating performance in South Africa earlier this summer. But with some players that featured in the World Cup being dropped and replaced with new faces, the new atmosphere that is taking shape within the French team is giving hope to anxious fans.
Laurent Blanc’s idea is to create a new-look France squad that will benefit from young talents blended with experienced players. The coach explained as he commentated on France’s national team:
“It’s good to have a young team. But, I think that it isn’t enough if you want be competitive at the highest level. We are trying to come up with a mixture of talented youngsters and more experienced players who will be able to guide them.”
Group D will see Luxembourg, Romania, Albania, and Portugal’s 2010 World Cup play-off victims Bosnia and Herzegovina vie to grab qualification tickets for Euro 2012. Analytically, France should be able to put their troubles behind and reach Poland-Ukraine. However, Les Bleus’ might not find it easy to claim the top spot in the table. The French, who are experiencing a delicate period in their history of football, might get things very tough when they tackle Belarus on Friday as Coach Bernd Stange declared:
“We face difficult opponents [in Group D] and it will be very hard for us [to qualify for Euro 2012]. However, our aim is to qualify to the finals [automatically]. Our minimum task is to make it into the play-offs. We must try and take our chance.”
Euro 2012 Qualifying – France vs Belarus: Teams News
Against Belarus, as much as nine players that participated in the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa will be lined up for France. Meanwhile, just as he had promised he would, Coach Laurent Blanc has remembered many names that took part in Les Bleus’ friendly match defeat to Norway. Ten players from that encounter have been included in France’s roster for their Euro 2012 qualifying game against Belarus on Friday.
Anthony Reveillere and Yohan Cabaye have also been added to the squad whereas Real Madrid’s Lassana Diarra had to withdraw through injury. Also on the injury list are Djibril Cissé, Samir Nasri, and Andre-Pierre Gignac. As for Nicolas Anelka, Franck Ribery, and Patrice Evra, they’ve been excluded since they are serving their respective ban imposed by the French Football Federation.
Talking about Belarus, their German manager has not included Leonid Kovel, Timofei Kalachev, and defender Dmitri Verkhovtsov. These three players have just returned from injury and they are yet to hit top form as they lack match fitness.
France’s Squad
Goalkeepers: Steve Mandanda, Cedric Carrasso, Hugo Lloris
Defenders: Benoit Tremoulinas, Anthony Reveillere, Gael Clichy, Bacary Sagna, Mamadou Sakho, Philippe Mexes, Adil Rami
Midfielders: Yohan Cabaye, Mathieu Valbuena, Florent Malouda, Jeremy Menez, Abou Diaby, Yann M’Vila, Alou Diarra
Forwards: Guillaume Hoarau, Kevin Gameiro, Louis Saha, Loic Remy, Karim Benzema
Belarus’ Squad
Goalkeepers: Sergei Veremko, Anton Amelchenko, Yuri Zhevnov
Defenders: Eduard Zhevnerov, Dmitri Molosh, Alkesandr Martynovich, Sergei Omelyanchuk, Maksim Bordachev, Aleksandr Yurevich, Sergei Sosnovski, Igor Shitov
Midfielders: Aleksandr Hleb, Anton Putilo, Sergei Kislyak, Sergei Krivets, Aleksandr Kulchiy, Yan Tigorev
Forwards: Vitali Kutuzov, Vyacheslav, Sergei Kornilenko, Vitali Rodionov
