France begin their quest to wipe away the pain of an embarrassing showing at the World Cup in 2010 when they begin their campaign in Brazil against Honduras on Sunday.
Winners in 1998, Les Bleus nearly suffered another disastrous exit in their playoff against Ukraine just to qualify as they had to overcome a 2-0 first leg deficit before advancing 3-2 on aggregate.
However, that comeback has marked a turning point in Didier Deschamps’ time in charge that has led to wave of optimism surrounding the country’s batch of young stars and that has been stoked by 4-0 and 8-0 thrashings of Norway and Jamaica respectively in pre-tournament friendlies.
“We’ve gone through a rebuilding phase because people still associate the team with Knysna in South Africa (when the players went on strike) and the way in which we exited the tournament,” striker Olivier Giroud told FIFA.com.
Giroud will battle with Antoine Griezmann for a place in Deschamps’ starting line-up in place of Franck Ribery, who was ruled out with back injury.
Honduras are expected to provide a very physical first test for Deschamps’ men.
The Central Americans were reduced to 10 men in a 0-0 draw in a friendly against England in their final warm-up game last weekend in a match in which Deschamps commented the Hondurans showed “aptitude of physical combat.”
However, forward Jerry Bengston believes they are capable of not just ruffling some French feathers but actually winning the game.
Fact box
Where: Estadio Mineirao, Belo Horizonte
Capacity: 62,160
When: Sunday June 15, 1:00AM BST
Referee: Sandro Ricci (Brazil)
Probable teams:
France
Lloris; Debuchy, Varane, Koscielny, Evra; Cabaye, Pogba, Matuidi; Valbuena, Benzema, Giroud.
Honduras
Valladares; Beckeles, Bernardez, Figueroa, Izaguirre; Garrido, Palacios, Chavez, Espinoza; Bengtson, Costly.
Key stats:
Since 1998, the French have not scored in their opening game of a World Cup.
Honduras have not scored in their last four World Cup matches.
Previous meetings
The two sides have never met before.