Euro 2016 Match Preview: France vs Iceland

Euro 2016 host nation France will square up against Iceland Sunday 3rd July 2016 at Stade de France Paris in the last quarter final game of the tournament.

France have been superb since the beginning of this tournament having gone unbeaten in the 4 games played so far with 3 wins and a draw. France did well to beat the Irish side 2-1 in the round 16 of the tournament. They showed so much strength after going 1 goal down in the first half. Antoine Griezmann pulled them level in the 57th minute of the game and 4 minutes later he scored the winner to take them into the semi finals. They now hope to continue their good form against Iceland.

On the other hand, Iceland shocked the Three Lions by handing a first class exit from the European Championship in a 2-1 defeat on Monday night, the English side scored the opener just 4 minutes into the game, but Iceland gave them a quick reply in the 6th minute and later “ICED” the English team with their 18th minute goal which was the winning goal. Iceland’s win against England made it 2 wins in 2 games, now they hope to get a hat-trick of victory when they face the host nation France.

France: Team News

Adil Rami and N’Golo Kante are suspended for the quarter final tie against Iceland after the duo picked up their second yellow card of the tournament in the 2-1 win over Republic of Ireland.

Manchester City defender Eliaquim Mangala is the likely replacement in defense, while either one of Moussa Sissoko or Yohan Cabaye will come in for the suspended Kante.

Blaise Matuidi is having a poor tournament, while Giroud is also under fire, but both are expected to keep their place in the starting line-up.

Laurent Koscielny and Olivier Giroud are a booking away from missing the semifinals, if they manage to reach that far.

France: Predicted Line-up (4-3-3)

lloris – Sagna, Mangala, Kolscielny, Evra – Matiudi, Sissoko, Pogba – Griezmann, Giroud, Payet.

Iceland: Team News

The managerial duo of Lars Lagerback and Heimir Hallgrimsson are likely to field an unchanged eleven after watching their players perform admirably in the 2-1 win against England.

Iceland has 9 players on yellow cards – Kari Arnason, Birkir Bjarnason, Johann Gudmundsson, Aron Gunnarsson, Hannes Halldorsson, Birkir Saevarsson, Kolbeinn Sigthorsson, Gylfi Sigurdsson, Ari Skulason. But this is hardly going to influence the team selection for Sunday’s quarter final clash against France.

Iceland: Predicted Line-up (4-4-2)

Halldorsson – Saevarsson, Arnasson, Sigurdsson, Skulason – Gudmundsson, Gunnarsson, Sigurdsson, Bjarnason – Sigthorsson, Bodvarsson

France vs Iceland: Head-to-Head stats

France are unbeaten against Iceland in their previous 11 games, they have won 8 and drawn 3 games against the Icelanders. Their last 2 games have both ended in a 3-2 win for the French side.

Note: this is the first time the two teams will be playing against each other in a European Championship tournament.

from Nigeria News. Your Nigerian Online News Source: Nigerianeye.com http://ift.tt/29dLOyE
Through Like Our Page