France and Italy begin Euro road to redemption
Reuters - Thursday 02 September 2010, 02:00
LONDON - France and Italy, still raw from
their World Cup embarrassments, start afresh on Friday when with
new coaches they begin qualifying for the 2012 European
championship against Belarus and Estonia respectively.
Russia, Belgium, Greece, Turkey and Israel are also under
new management as they seek to make the finals in Poland and
Ukraine in the first of back-to-back qualifiers with Friday's
games followed by a full fixture list on Tuesday -- the dates
brought forward a day to please the leading leagues who wanted
more rest for their players before returning to club duty.
Of all the countries in action on Friday France are most in
need of a new start in Paris.
The chaos of the threatened strike and subsequent suspension
of players has somewhat masked what was a poverty-stricken
on-pitch display in South Africa where after a draw with Uruguay
they were beaten by Mexico and the host nation.
French fans, embarrassed and angry after what they witnessed
in June, will hope that the arrival of Laurent Blanc in place of
Raymond Domenech will help.
Blanc has selected nine of the World Cup squad along with 10
of the players from last month's 2-1 friendly defeat by Norway - a game for which he ignored all the World Cup men.
Franck Ribery, Nicolas Anelka and Patrice Evra are still
suspended for their part in the South African revolution while
Samir Nasri, Djibril Cisse and Andre-Pierre Gignac and Lassana
Diarra are injured.
Uncapped Kevin Gameiro, Cedric Carrasso, Mamadou Sakho and
Benoit Tremoulinas are included in the squad who follow up
Friday's opener with a tough trip to Bosnia on Tuesday.
"To have a young team is a good thing but it's not enough to
be competitive at the highest level," said Blanc. "We tried to
come up with a mixture of talented youngsters and more
experienced players who can guide them."
Italy endured a similarly painful summer, their world
champion status looking somewhat hollow after they finished
bottom of their group, and they too embark under a new
managerial era with Cesare Prandelli in place of Marcello Lippi.
'BE CAREFUL'
Prandelli's first game in charge was a 1-0 friendly defeat
by Ivory Coast and he sounded nervous this week when looking
ahead to his first competitive test in Tallinn.
"It won't be a walk in the park against Estonia, they are a
proven side. We have to be careful," he said of a team who
needed two goals in stoppage time to beat Faroe Islands 2-1 in
the opening game of Euro qualifying last month.
Spain, who lifted the Henri Delaunay Cup in Vienna two years
ago, are seeking to become the first team to retain the trophy
and should start their campaign with a win in Liechtenstein
while Netherlands, beaten in a bruising World Cup final by Spain
seven weeks ago, also have an easy-looking opener in San Marino.
Germany, runners-up two years ago and buoyed by their World
Cup exploits, have a tougher-looking start away to Belgium. The
Belgians are playing under George Leekens for the second time
after he replaced Dick Advocaat, whose Russia side have a soft
start in Andorra.
Fabio Capello is another coach whose reputation took a hit
in South Africa and the Italian begins the rebuilding job at
Wembley as England take on Bulgaria before a trip to
Switzerland.
Capello's options have been limited by a spate of injuries
but he will be buoyed by the early season form of Arsenal
forward Theo Walcott, who was the most surprising of his World
Cup omissions.
Greece, surprise European champions in 2004 but who lost all
three tournament games four years later, really are embarking on
a new era after Fernando Santos replaced Otto Rehhagel after
nine years in charge.
His team, who went out in the group stages of the World Cup,
start at home to Georgia.
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