World Cup Today 30/6/14

It is strange to talk about a side that has been World and European champions in the last fifteen years as a dark horse, but the flux in French football has been that extreme, and it wasn’t until a good way through the group stages that people even starting mentioning their play, and chances of making the very late stages. With an impressive string of performances behind them and the grief of 2010 firmly consigned to the history books there is definitely a sense that France may be capable of going a long way, and it very much looks as though they got a decent draw for the second round. There is no derogatory meaning in that toward Nigeria, the side France must overcome if they want to make the quarter finals, but the Africans aren’t at a great place right now and there have definitely been better sides to wear the famous green jerseys. As if the game wasn’t hard enough for Nigeria, Didier Deschamps has Yohan Cabaye back after a suspension, although there are doubts over Mamadou Sakho. Nigeria forward Victor Moses faces a fitness test but Michael Babatunde is definitely out with a fractured wrist. If there is going to be any game the pundits really think of as a dead-cert it is most likely Germany v Algeria, and again the lack of respect the African side have been shown may end up being in their favour if the Germans don’t view this as a game they have to try in too much. Algeria didn’t come through the toughest group in the competition but they are here when sides like Spain, England and Italy aren’t, and for that reason Germany will most likely have their best eleven on the pitch, provided the manager knows what his best eleven is of course. Scoring a lot of goals in the knockout stage is very different to doing so in the groups, as it requires the team to risk conceding and finding themselves in extreme peril rather than having the chance to make changes, but the result against Portugal suggests Algeria should be swept aside fairly simply even if Lukas Podolski will miss the game for Germany. Jerome Boateng should be fit in time to start in the German defence, and their midfield depth will be key to winning this match.