Euro 2012 team guide and squad: France

HOW the mighty can fall. World and European champions by the year 2000, France went on what seemed like an endless slide into mediocrity, with a fair amount of controversy on the way.

Scraping into the 2010 World Cup via a playoff win against the Republic of Ireland, which saw Thierry Henry handle the ball before setting up William Gallas for the winning goal, the French never really recovered from the media hype following that match, and had a tournament to forget in South Africa.

Training ground bust-ups, Nicolas Anelka being sent home and the whole team refusing to train cast a dark cloud over French football, but past demons may have been exorcised with the appointment of former player Laurent Blanc, and the virtual disappearance of former manager Raymond Domenech (last seen coaching Athletic Club de Boulogne-Billancourt’s under-11 side; a team in the Parisien suburbs that serves as an unofficial feeder club to Paris St-Germain).

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However, recent matches have seen the team regain some sort of momentum, and despite a stuttering start to the Euro 2012 qualifying campaign that saw them lose at home to Belarus, ‘Les Bleus’ recovered to finish top of their group ahead of Bosnia-Herzegovina.

KEY PLAYER: Arsenal target Yann M’Vila could be the creative spark that the team has been lacking in previous years. With a less-than-solid defence, the midfield could be pivotal in matches if they can protect the defence and supply the strikeforce. France have been playing an offensive 4-3-3 formation in recent games, and it could be down to M’Vila, Yohan Cabaye and Samir Nasri to supply the dig in the middle of the park.

ODDS: 12-1

WORLD RANKING: 16

GROUP D

FIXTURES:

June 11, 2012 England (Donetsk, Ukr)

June 15, 2012 Ukraine (Donetsk, Ukr)

June 19, 2012 Sweden (Kiev, Ukr)

COACH: Laurent Blanc - Missed out on the World Cup final on home soil in 1998 when he was controversially sent off after a skirmish with Slaven Bilic in the semi-final win over Croatia, but returned to the European Championship winning side two years later. Took over as national team boss following ugly scenes in South Africa in 2010 as France finished bottom of their group, with striker Nicolas Anelka being sent home following an apparent expletive-strewn tirade at Domenech, and an incident between captain Patrice Evra and team trainer Robert Duverne leading to the whole team refusing to train.

He said it...

‘He was behind. This injury is annoying but it’s not just from the match, it’s a recurrent injury ... There were to many uncertainties.’ (on Yoann Gourcuff’s omission from the final squad)

SQUAD

Goalkeepers

Cédric Carrasso (FC Girondins de Bordeaux)

Hugo Lloris (Olympique Lyonnais)

Steve Mandanda (Olympique de Marseille)

Defenders

Gaël Clichy (Manchester City FC)

Mathieu Debuchy (LOSC Lille Métropole)

Patrice Evra (Manchester United FC)

Laurent Koscielny (Arsenal FC)

Philippe Mexès (AC Milan)

Adil Rami (Valencia CF)

Anthony Réveillère (Olympique Lyonnais).

Midfielders

Yohan Cabaye (Newcastle United FC)

Alou Diarra (Olympique de Marseille)

Florent Malouda (Chelsea FC)

Marvin Martin (FC Sochaux-Montbéliard)

Blaise Matuidi (Paris Saint-Germain FC)

Yann M’Vila (Stade Rennais FC)

Samir Nasri (Manchester City FC)

Forwards

Hatem Ben Arfa (Newcastle United FC)

Karim Benzema (Real Madrid CF)

Olivier Giroud (Montpellier Hérault SC)

Jérémy Menez (Paris Saint-Germain FC)

Franck Ribéry (FC Bayern München)

Mathieu Valbuena (Olympique de Marseille)