France received a morale-boost after battling back to overcome Iceland at home in Sunday’s only friendly, with a couple of their back-four showcasing their attacking potential. Elsewhere, Holland are sweating on the fitness of Joris Mathijsen, Roy Hodgson is pessimistic over Gareth Barry’s chances and Vicente Del Bosque axes a couple of forwards from Spain’s final 23 man squad.
France 3 Iceland 2
Laurent Blanc fielded what many regard as his best available back-four but, despite extending their unbeaten run to 19 games, France were unconvincing in defence against Iceland. With Yohan Cabaye playing as the only holding midfielder, Blanc admitted the hosts failed to find a balance between defence and attack in and went two behind in the first half before a host of changes brought them back into the match. Olivier Giroud – on as a sub for Karim Benzema – provided a pair of assists, while Franck Ribery climbed off the bench to grab an equaliser. Mathieu Debuchy and Adil Rami both bagged a goal apiece from the back, with the former – costing 5.5 in the McDonald’s Fantasy game to Rami’s 6.0, the better value of the duo.
France Starting XI: Mandanda; Debuchy, Mexes, Rami, Evra; Ben Arfa (Giroud 59), Gourcuff (Ribery), Cabaye (Diarra 59), Nasri (Martin 60), Menez (Valbuena 75); Benzema (Malouda 60)
Other News
Roy Hodgson has admitted England are sweating over the fitness of Gareth Barry after the midfielder limped out of the 1-0 win over Norway. Barry lasted just 27 minutes before being replaced by Jordan Henderson in Hodgson’s debut match and could be well be in doubt for the upcoming tournament, according to his manager:
I’m not prepared to say it’s serious. But it is certainly going to dominate our attention and we don’t have a lot of time if the scan shows it is something more than minor.
Vicente Del Bosque announced Spain’s final 23 yesterday. Adrian Lopez missed out despite scoring and assisting in the 2-0 win over Serbia, while Roberto Soldado also failed to survive the chop – it now looks likely to be a fight between the two Fernandos, Torres and Llorente, and Alvaro Negredo for the central striking role. Cesc Fabregas was included in the midfield, though his manager admitted the Barcelona man has a minor injury which is expected to keep him out for 10 days.
Italy are confident that both Ricardo Montolivio and Giorgio Chiellini are winning their respective fitness battles ahead of the opener against Spain on Sunday June 10. The duo featured eight and 10 times respectively over their nation’s qualifying campaign but are both battling to overcome thigh strains – Italian medical staff revealed:
The test results showed improvements for both, even if obviously they are not 100% yet and it’ll take a few more days to see further changes.
Greece boss Fernando Santos received some positive news over Vassilis Torossidis yesterday. The right-back opened the scoring in the 1-1 draw with Slovenia before limping off after just 23 minutes due to pain in his right knee but scans have revealed no damage has been sustained.
Slaven Bilic has admitted he has a couple of injury concerns ahead of naming Croatia’s final 23 man squad on Tuesday. Centre-half Josip Simunic is being rested for a couple of days but is expected to be fit in a couple of days, though the prognosis on Dejan Lovren is “more complex”, according to his manager.
Holland boss Bert Van Marwijk looks to have problems in the heart of his defence. Centre-half Joris Mathijsen was subbed off with a hamstring problem after just 17 minutes of the home defeat by Bulgaria on Saturday and could now miss his side’s opener against Denmark, with the Dutch boss saying:
The first diagnosis is that they think it is not torn. So it could be a strain. Normally that means a recovery period of 10-15 days. We will probably know more in the next week.
