WCQ Preview: France – Serbia

It is well known that in international football there aren’t many places which are harder to play in than Paris. Going away to France is probably every nation’s hardest qualifying match, and unless you come from Scotland, you won’t expect anything good to come out of your little trip to Stade de France. France are a formidable team, packed with talent, skills and experience, and despite all the abysmal results they had since the turn of the century, I always considered them a true world superpower and a genuine favourite for any competition they participated in. This generation doesen’t seem like an exception: they have a pool of extremely talented individuals and the potential to, when in the mood, do serious damage to their opposition. However, if there was ever a good time to play France, it is today. They have severe problems on their own and nobody would be that much surprised if Serbia even pulled an away win. This is definetely going to be the most interesting match for both sides in a long while, and there will be many eyes watching the game, especially at France coach Raymond Domenech. Now, it maybe looks silly to call this an important match for a side that played a WC final two years ago and participated in the recent Euro 2008, but if my sources are correct, the entire FFF could be severely rocked by the possible outcome of this game. As for Serbia, it looks like an ideal opportunity to do something great and gain immense media attention. Preview to follow:

France:

France didn’t have a very good tournament at Austria-Switzerland after finishing last in the group behind Netherlands, Italy and Romania, collecting only one point and scoring only one goal in the process. There was a massive media outrcry, even during the tournament itself, that the whole team needed serious reform and that the coach Raymond Domenech should be immidiately sacked. An even bigger shock than France’s performance came when the FFF decided to keep Domenech, promising it would force him to reform the squad and his approach to the game. However, media pressure didn’t stop – it is the moment when it was evident that every France game would be closely monitored and that both the coach and the team would be under a lot of pressure. It is hard to tell whether the pressure would have stopped had someone else taken over the NT, but it now looks like FFF made a mistake by keeping Domenech, even if we assume the man didn’t to anything wrong by himself. France defeated Sweden in a friendly, and it looked like Ray Ray changed his ways by doing exactly what the media forced him to do (well, almost everything) and also winning an away game in the process. It even looked like the whole fuss would end after a few victories, but then came the game against Austria which Les Bleus lost 3:1 in a rather unfortunate way (ironically, they lost the game because of a series of mistakes by the man who the media forced Domenech to include – Phillipe Mexes). Now it became clear: defeat Serbia, Raymond, and you may still survive. Fail to win, and there comes the guillotine. And who knows, the whole FFF could join you there.

Despite all the fuss, the French team looks extremely indimidating. They’ll probably play Mandanda on goal, but in case Domenech chooses to replace him after a poor game against Austria, there’s Hugo Lloris, also a wonderful goalkeeper that plays for Lyon and still manages not to concede a single goal in official games since coming from Nice in the summer. After seeing all he can do, I hope Raymond plays Mandanda (though I assume may regret this statement). In defense, we’ll probably see Sagna and Evra as a right and left full-back respectively (altough Clichy instead of Evra is also a possibility), and the central defense will be a combination between Gallas, Mexes, Squillaci and Abidal (who could also play as a left full-back). In midfield, there will be a beast named Jeremy Toulalan, one of the best DM’s in the world today and a player who has already wreaked havoc in Serbian lines (at the U21 Championship in 2006). By his side there will be either one of the Diarras (Alou Diarra of Bordeaux and Lassana Diarra of Portsmouth) or Matheiu Flamini, who Domenech didn’t really fancy in the past. On the left wing we’ll probably have Samir Nasri, who replaced Malouda as a starter on that position, and after so many goals in the last few games, I doubt Raymond would drop Sidney Govou. There’s also an outside chance that Domenech would put Gourcuff somewhere in the midfield, but that would be highly unlikely. As for the attack, we’ll probably see Henry next to Benzema, but there are some speculations that Anelka would get the chance. Everything I’ve written here about the lineups will be false if Domenech chooses to abandon his favourite 4-4-2. Knowing him, I once again assume it won’t happen. Unless, of course, a threat of losing his job immidiately doesn’t make him seriously reconsider his whole approach and change his football philosophy.

Serbia:

Serbian football was also severely rocked in the last few months. You certainly won’t find that info in the foreign media, but compared to our problems, this whole Domenech affair looks like a children’s fight over a candy. Serbian football had many affairs recently, and we are more and more sure by the day that it’s run by incompetent criminals that threaten to destroy it’s foundations. I won’t molest you by this whole situation, but the fact is that Miroslav Đukić, a former Serbia U21 coach who was promoted to the senior side because of his immpresive exploits both as a U21 and Partizan Belgrade coach, was fired before even playing a single competitive game with the A team. It is well known he had serious issues the man who works both as a president of Serbian FA and Partizan Belgrade, Tomislav Karadžić. There were problems with the selection of players for the Olympics and Đukić was sacked in an unbeleiveble manner. He confronted Karadžić the Partizan president and got fired by Karadžić the FA president, his own boss! To prevent being crucified by the angry fans and media, Karadžić brought Radomir Antić, a highly experienced and succesfull coach, former manager of Real Madrid, Barcelona and Atletico Madrid, to fill the vacant spot. As Antić is definetely a better coach than Đukić, everyone soon forgot this injustice to poor Miroslav and greeted the new coach, who was always thought of as our savior and who our FA unsuccesfully tried to bring in the last several years. Antić might really lift us up – he is an excellent coach and the players believe in him. But was he able to create a strong tim capable of challenging France after spending just several days with his new team?

We should be seeing Stojković in Serbia’s goal, but in case he hasn’t healed his injury yet, there’s always Dišljenković, who really didin’t have much to do against the Faroese. In defense, we’ll probably use the line of Rukavina (RB), Vidić (CB), Ivanović (CB) and Dragutinović (LB), all the other options look far less experienced and experience at the back is what we’ll desperately need. Antić may try playing Obradović or Kačar back there, but while the first is too young for such a game, the second could be much more useful up front – he scored 5 (!) goals for the U21 against Hungary. There’s also Krstajić, but I doubt he would use him – he’s a good player but I don’t think he has the pace for Benzema and such. The midfield is a real mystery: Stanković is an obvious choice, but where to put Janković, Krasić, Milijaš, Tošić, Ilić, Kačar and Sulejmani? There’s a huge number of options, but I guess Antić will play 4-5-1 with Sulejmani on the left, Krasić on the right, and Stanković (DM), Ilić and Kačar in the middle. That’s what I would play, that is. Sulejmani, who was paid 18m by Ajax this summer, thus breaking the Dutch tranfer record, definetely needs to play. He’s our most dangerous player and the fans want to see him – all the other midfielders are opet to rotation without any great difference. Sulejmani could also play as an attacker, but with the choice of Žigić, Pantelić and Lazović, I doubt Antić would put him up there. Like I said, I guess we’ll play a 4-5-1 and use Žigić up front – his height is a threat whoever he plays against. If we still play with two up front – my guess is we’ll se Pantelić, but Lazović is definetely not out of the question. All in all, our wingers are far better on the offense than France’s full-backs are on the defense, and this is where I see the instrument to victory. The second is Žigić, who can always score if not properly marked, and sometimes even marking can’t help you. The third is, if you ask me, the powerful shot of Nenad Milijaš - he isn’t a very quick player and probably won’t play today, but if he does and manages to shoot from distance – Mandanda, take cover! Did I mention Vidić also knows how to score goals with his head?

Expected lineups:

Mandanda
Sagna – Gallas – Squillaci – Evra
Govou – Toulalan – L. Diarra – Nasri
Henry – Benzema

Stojković
Rukavina – Vidić – Ivanović – Dragutinović
Krasić – Ilić – Stanković – Kačar – Sulejmani
Žigić

Expected result:

Call me a pessimist, but I think France will defeat us tonight. If we manage not to concede any goals in the first half, we might use the pressure on the French to even claim a victory in the second. If Les Bleus score first, it will be hard to equalise, and knowing our boys, everything from a 1:0 to 6:0 defeat seems possible. But, hey, we now have a renowned expert on the bench. That must mean something, right? Right?