World Cup 2014 France Predictions - Are Les Bleus Really Favourites To Win The Title?

It was a typical cold night in Kiev when the home side left everyone stranded as they almost smashed France’s hopes of granting a place at the Brazil’s World Cup. Led by the stone cold Mikhail Fomenko, the Ukrainians won the match by 2-0 with goals by Roman Zozulya and by the new star of the company, Dynamo Kiev’s Andriy Yarmolenko. The French media questioned the quality of their National Team back them, by wondering if they weren’t the worst group of players ever to have represented Les Bleus. Four days later, though, things were back to “normal”, at least on the minds of the pundits, since France managed to bounce back at Saint-Denis and beat the Ukraine by 3-0.

This dichotomy between performances is what one will find if one takes a closer analysis to the recent matches from the French side. Their manager, Didier Deschamps, is yet to fully convince everyone that he is the right man to lead the country’s national team and some people go as far as predicting a not very idyllic scenario for France at World Cup.

France were placed on Group E, alongside with Switzerland, Ecuador and Honduras, and although they are favourites to walk through to the next stage of the competition, they will need to be extra cautious with the extremely strong Swiss side and probably with Ecuador that, as the French, tend to combine excellence with mediocrity quite often.

Despite the team’s bumpy path last year, 2014 has been a good year for the French so far. Didier Deschamps’ boys defeated The Netherlands back in March 2-0 at home, on a match during which they put up a very interesting performance, and they smashed Norway three days ago 4-0, thanks to a vintage performance from Marseille’s versatile winger Mathieu Valbuena.

The French side usually plays on a classic 4-3-3 style with two men at the wings and a centre forward up in the front and also with a midfield triangle based on Paul Pogba’s versatility and power and on Cabaye’s fantastic passing skills. France have a fantastic set of players, especially at the front with Ribéry, Griezmann, Giroud, and Benzema promising to be a very serious headache to the opposition’s defence lines.

One probably cannot consider France as firm favourites to win the tournament title, particularly if we have in mind their performances’ last year; nevertheless, if they continue this constant oscillation between Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, they might well be on a good streak during the World Cup and surprise everyone at the end.

France Match Predictions

15 June 2014: France 2 Honduras 0 Best Odds 3/10 @ Paddy Power

20 June 2014: Switzerland 2 France 1 Best Odds evens @ William Hill

25 June 2014: Ecuador 0 France 1 Best Odds 10/11 @ William Hill

France's Provisional 23-man squad list for the World Cup

Goalkeepers: Hugo Lloris, Mickael Landreau.

Defenders: Mathieu Debuchy, Lucas Digne, Patrice Evra, Laurent Koscielny, Bacary Sagna, Eliaquim Mangala, Mamadou Sakho, Raphael Varane.

Midfielders: Yohan Cabaye, Blaise Matuidi, Clement Grenier, Rio Mavuba, Paul Pogba, Moussa Sissoko, Mathieu Valbuena.

Forwards: Karim Benzema, Olivier Giroud, Antoine Griezmann, Loic Remy, Franck Ribery.