France vs Iceland Prediction, Betting Tips & Preview

Preview

Joel Amorim Jul 01, 2016 @ 02:50 am

Next Sunday, 3rd of July 2016, the tournament hosts France will measure forces with the mighty Iceland team at Stade de France in Saint-Denis, Paris, for the last match of Euro 2016 Quarter-finals.

After a goalless draw against Switzerland in their last group match, France didn’t have the best of days when they went head-to-head with the Republic of Ireland last time out. An early goal by Robbie Brady from the penalty spot pushed France against the ropes and saw them struggling for a large period of the match, especially in the first-half.

After the break, however, Atletico Madrid’s versatile forward Antoine Griezmann took the reins of the match on his hands and scored a brilliant salvo in just four minutes to help France go through into the tournament Quarter-finals. Griezmann and Dimitri Payet have both been of pivotal importance for Les Bleus so far in the competition, but as a team, France keep showing some frailties, especially back in defence.

For the upcoming predictably complicated match against the debutants Iceland, French head-coach Didier Deschamps will not be able to rely on the services of Adil Rami and Ngolo Kante, who are both currently suspended. Kingsley Coman, on the other hand, is fully recovered from his ankle injury and will be available next time out.

As for Iceland, after their excellent group stage campaign, the tournament debutants rose up once again to defeat the all-powerful England in their last outing. Two goals in just twelve minutes proved to be enough to overcome a highly uninspired English team that have only themselves to blame from being eliminated at such an early stage of the tournament.

FC Krasnodar’s defender Ragnar Sigurdsson pulled off a splendid performance last time out, not only for the goal he scored, but also for his pivotal role in his team’s back line. The 30-year old centre back is now reportedly under the transfer radar of several European top teams and it is unlikely that he will remain at Russian football next season.

For the upcoming match against the tournament hosts, Lars Lagerbäck will most certainly have all his players at disposal, since there aren’t any names at Iceland’s injury list so far.

France

Stats: W-4 L-0 D-1

Recent Form - WDWWW

Iceland

Stats: W-3 L-0 D-2

Recent Form - WWDDW

Possible Line-ups

France (4-3-3) – Lloris - Sagna - Mangala - Koscielny - Evra - Kante - Pogba - Matuidi - Payet - Griezmann - Giroud

Iceland (4-4-2) – Halldorsson - Saevarsson - Arnason - R. Sigurdsson - Skulason - Gunnarsson - G. Sigurdsson - Bjarnason - Gudmundsson - Sigthorsson - Bodvarsson

Injury List / Suspended Players

France - Rami (sus) - Kante (sus)

Iceland - None

Head-to-head matches:

League Positions