France All The Way

Kick off to Euro 2016 is barely hours away. The hosts France will take on Romania in the opening fixture at Stade de France. The French team coached by Didier Deschamps has some exciting players to boast. Antoine Griezmann is in the form of his life and he is the man to watch out. He and West Ham’s Dimitri Payet will tear down the flanks and will pose a plenty of challenge to opposition full backs. Even more, the opposition has to deal with Payet’s vicious free kicks. The French midfield is marshalled by Blaise Matuidi, N’Golo Kante and Paul Pogba. While Matuidi will city back and protect the defence Kante and Pogba will spray passes and look to dictate the terms. Defence is France’s weakest link and full backs Bacary Sagna and Patrice Evra are in the twilight of their career and might not have the legs to move up and down the pitch. Moreover the central defence pairing of Adil Rami and Laurent Koscielny is not solid as it looks. Koscielny is impetuous and mistake prone. Olivier Giroud is an impressive striker but he is no Benzema, who controversially not selected. While Martial is an exciting prospect, he won’t start at the expense of Giroud. Romanians are underdogs and but their defensive organisation is solid and difficult to penetrate. Vlad Chiriches is the main stay in the defence and his battle with Giroud will have to be watched. It is fair to say that Romanians will sit back, defend and look to score on the counter. However, lack of pace on the wings haunts them. Left back, Razvan Rat is 35, and French wingers will be licking their lips, as he might not have the pace to contain the marauding runs. The hosts are overwhelming favourites for this fixture and coupled with the vociferous support of the fans, the Romanians will have a tough time on the field. However, the pressure is on French as they look to win big and set a marker for the group.