France comes into this tournament with an objective to heal the wound caused by their utterly disappointing group stage exit in the previous installment of the World Cup in South Africa. This time around the 2006 runners-up possess a very youthful squad which has performed extremely well in European competitions for their clubs. Although the French national team is missing their most important player Franck Ribery, their other options in midfield looks ready to keep the veteran’s absence from glaring. Honduras, on the other hand is a very aggressive squad coming from the back of some impressive pre-World Cup performances, of which it held the talented England squad to a draw in spite of being down to 10-men.
Players to look out for:
Didier Deschamps has a squad that can easily cruise past the group stages. Young talents like Paul Pogba and Raphael Varane have reveled at their clubs Juventus and Real Madrid respectively and will look to put their country one step closer to glory. Olivier Giroud and Karim Benzema who have also had a successful season will draw some attention. It remains to be seen how Antoine Griezmann, purported to be Ribery’s replacement, will perform. Among the Hondurans, Carlos Costly, the striker and Wilson Palacios will be ones to look for.
Teams head-to-head:
France and Honduras have not had any previous history and will be meeting for the first time.
Probable line-ups:
France: Lloris; Sagna, Koscielny, Sakho, Evra; Pogba, Cabaye, Matuidi; Valbuena, Griezmann; Benzema.
Honduras: Valladares; Beckeles, Bernandez, Figueroa, Izaguirre; Najar, Garrido, Palacios, Espinoza; Bengtson, Costly.
Predictions:
Honduran defense will be no match for France’s attacking front despite their aggressiveness as Deschamps’ team would be looking to get off the ground with a flying start.
Final Score Predictions: France 3 – 0 Honduras.
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