Well, in that case I prefer it if you keep underestimating us.theflyingfrenchman wrote:Alive and Kicking wrote:theflyingfrenchman wrote:Well, that was the draw I didn't want. Not keen on playing Italy again, they'll be up for it thanks to Domenech, Romania are strong outsiders. Holland aren't that scary a proposition at the moment though, so who knows...
Holland do have great great players: VDV, V. Persie, RVNR, Robben, Huntelaar, etc just to name a few. The only good thing is that Van Basten is the coach. Anything can happen in this group. Romania have a good team, but I don't think they will be upsetting the Big Three, because their players might lack in international experience.
The team that will be the better prepared will go through IMO. France have a little advantage over Italy since they took 4 points out of 6 against them during the qualification groups, but these games were played in September so the players were not well prepared. Still, Italy haven't beaten France since 1986, I think. So I can really see a draw there, and the two playing styles are very similar.
Lots of things can also happen from now to January like injuries, good players not playing enough in their club. For France the main problem is defensive, who will replace Thuram? and will Coupet back be as good as he used to be?
A lot hinges on Coupet, because Frey and Landreau aren't up to his standards. However replacing Thuram with mexes isn't that big a drop in quality. Sagnol and Clerc are both excellent, and at LB the quality there is second to none.
We may have Van basten, but the lads are still winning. Besides, we always step up against bigger sides. Its against the minnows we think we'll win by just showing up.