Conor Davies previews the World Cup Group E clash between France and Honduras (8pm)
Summary: France are a team that look fantastic on paper. With Raphael Varane they have potentially the best defender of the next decade, a top dependable keeper in Hugo Lloris and a formidable front line of Valbuena, Giroud and Benzema, not to mention the pace of Loic Remy from the bench. Sure, manager Didier Deschamps has done well to kick out the sinners of the 2010 World Cup and produce a feel-good factor around the squad but can they reach their potential. Honduras have the unwanted record of having played the most World Cup games without victory. They'll be looking to build on their 2010 showing in South Africa and grab a point or three. Their strong, feisty nature could shake up the French, who have suffered major upsets in their first tournament game before, Senegal in 2002 as reigning champions an obvious one, but they should have too much for a weak Honduras line-up.
Probable Line-Ups:
France: Lloris; Debuchy, Varane, Sakho, Evra; Cabaye, Sissoko, Matuidi; Valbuena, Giroud, Benzema
Honduras: Valladares; B Beckeles, Figueroa, Bernardez, Izaguirre, Espinoza; W Palacios, L Garrido, M Chavez; Costly, Bengtson
Venue: Estadio Beira-Rio, Porto Alegre
England links:
France: Ten honorary Brits make the French squad. Newcastle's trio of Loic Remy, Mathieu Debuchy and Moussa Sissoko, the aforementioned Lloris, Arsenal's threesome of Laurent Koscielny, Bacaray Sagna and Olivier Giroud. The last trio are Patrice Evra (Man Utd), Morgan Schneiderlin (Southampton) and Mamdou Sakho (Liverpool). Samir Nasri didn't make the cut, which led to the infamous Twitter rant from his partner.
Honduras: Five British-based players make the 23, Wigan duo Roger Espinoza and Juan Carlos Garcia, Hull City's Maynor Figueroa, Stoke's versatile Wilson Palacios and Celtic's Emile Izaguirre
Derby County links:
France: Laurent Robert, Gilles Sunu and Francois Grenet are among the forgettable Frenchmen who've played for Derby over the years but the most memorable for fans will be Youl Mawene. Joining in 2000, from Lens for £500,000, while injury-prone he impressed so much so that by the end of the 2003/04 season he was awarded Player of the Year. Out-of-contract, though, he left for Preston North End that summer.
Honduras: None.
Battle to watch - Wilson Palacios vs Blaise Matuidi: Palacios will be well-known to Premier League fans but hasn't had much game time for latest club Stoke over the past season or so. The midfield enforcer will want to be part of Honduras history by grabbing a first-ever win, though, so expect him to be pumped up and ready to break a few of the laws of the game to get his way. Matuidi is a pure athlete. Regularly topping the charts of players covering the most kilometres, he is a player of vital importance to both club and country. His energetic, leggy runs from box-to-box allow urgency and a quick tempo to take charge of games and quickly turn defence into attack.
