France: Mamadou Sakho’s French team had a great build-up with 5 wins from their last 6, including a win over the Netherlands, but the friendly opponents prior to the World Cup could not have been more hand-picked and resulted in a – no doubt – morale-boosting 8-nil win over Jamaica.
But given that they’re in probably the easiest group in the competition, it is probably irrelevant who they beat. What is relevant though, is that Franck Ribery is not going to take part and, regardless of what the press will lead you to believe, he will be sorely missed.
The French have far too much quality to not easily break out top of Group E which means they’ll probably come face-to-face with Bosnia-Herzegovina in the first-round knock out phase, which could potentially throw up a tough quarter-final.
Either way, expect the French to do well and if they can build up momentum in their easy group and find a comfortable way into the quarter-finals then confidence could see them become big favourites to reach at least the semi-finals.
Prediction: At least a quarter-final, knocked out at semi-finals
