This is a very important game for French. If they lose it, they confidence will be severely shaken and their fate in 2002 after losing to Senegal and eliminated in the group stage could be repeated. There are some surprises. Scotti and Gargano are dropped for Pereira and Victorino. Instead they are playing 3-5-2 rather than 4-4-2. Of course this formation is to gain authority in the midfield. Uruguayan usually presses a lot when they are not in possession. By employing a 5-man midfield, I can see their motive to lock the passes from Toulalan and hit the vulnerable French defence through their clinical forwards Forlan and Suarez. The French team has their obvious weakness. In their 4-3-3 set-up, Gourcuff doesn’t seem comfortable to play as a right-centre midfield rather than a centre attacking midfield. Most of their attacks are coming from the left flank as Malouda and Ribery combined to break from there. However very often we could see Anelka is isolated up front though this seems to be a very much attacking line-up. This is due to their attacks are too heavily relied on one flank and could be easily predicted. With only a single holding midfield employed, I think there is possibility that Gallas and Abidal would be exposed to lots of counter-attacks and through balls Uruguay. Worse thing is that recently there are some inharmonic voices among the French camp after the appointment of Evra as the captain and Henry dropped to the bench. And they have just started using 4-3-3 formation before the world cup and it follows by a confidence-dashing defeat in the warm-up against minnow China. I would back Uruguay to won this one.
Player to watch (France): Jeremy Toulalan
Without his usual partner Lassana Diarra, he is employed as the single holding midfielder. The 3 man midfield would be pushed hard by the Uruguayan. Whether or not he could pass the balls quick and accurate enough would largely determine the outcome of this game. Once he was locked, French could face difficulty to get the fall into the final third and form lethal attacks.
Player to watch (Uruguay): Diego Forlan
Brimming with confidence after another impressive season, his partnership with Suarez would be highly reliable to score goals during quick counter-attacks. Gallas and Abidal has plenty of weaknesses especially due to their poor positioning and this could open up some gaps for him to get some goals.
Predicted score line: Uruguay to create an upset win 2-1
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