World Cup Qualifying Preview: France - Austria

France gave their first truly authoritative performance of the World Cup qualifying campaign on Saturday against the Faroe Islands, producing a positive offensive performance to dismiss the North Atlantic islanders 5-0 in Guingamp. A double from Andre-Pierre Gignac in the first half got things moving for Raymond Domenech’s side, and the Toulouse striker’s efforts were augmented by William Gallas, Nicolas Anelka and substitute Karim Benzema after the pause.

But such an effort arrived too late for les Bleus as Serbia defeated Romania by the same margin to book a place in South Africa and consign the French to the lottery of a play-off fixture. The 5-0 win for the Serbs against the Tricolorii was in rather stark contrast to France’s toils to secure two draws when playing the same opponents, only serving to highlight the inadequacies of the French in the earlier stages of this campaign.

Make no mistake, one crushing success over the Faroe Islands will not be enough to eradicate the memories of a hugely frustrating year for Domenech’s men. Had they shown such offensive zeal as they did against the Faroese in their earlier matches, Serbia may have been put under more tangible pressure, but the long-time Group 7 leaders were comfortable for the most part as draws against Romania and unconvincing showings against Lithuania had nobody confident that France could make a roaring comeback to top the table.

And so the group stage will come to an end against the side against whom it started: Austria. Still smarting from a 3-1 defeat in Vienna that set the tone for this campaign way back in autumn 2008, France will be looking to paint a rather more positive picture of the forthcoming year in Paris.

Ups And Downs

Only two years ago Austrian football was in turmoil. Despite the prospect of hosting Euro 2008, fans of the national team were busy petitioning for their side to withdraw from the competition, such was the abject nature of their performances. Several thousand signatures were gathered, but the net result was negligible as the Alpine nation set about reconstructing its footballing identity.

After slowly improving in the build-up to the European Championships, the Austrians produced a competitive appearance in the summer of 2008, suffering narrow defeats to Germany and Croatia, but picking up a draw against Poland.

When Karel Bruckner took the national side’s reigns after the competition, everything seemed rosy once again, especially since his competitive bow was a historic 3-1 victory over France, which started their World Cup qualifying campaign in perfect fashion. But the honeymoon would quickly end. Defeat in Lithuania was followed by a draw in the Faroe Islands, and a home crushing by Serbia was effectively the last straw.

Dietmar Constantini took over the Austria job in March, and effectively found the team at square one, back in the abject old days when they struggled to compete with even middleweights. However, he has overseen a marked improvement. Three competitive wins, one draw and one defeat is his record in charge, and he will look to improve that on Wednesday.

Austria’s World Cup dream has already died, but if they secure maximum points in Paris, they will finish a tantalising one point off the French pace, which would not be an entirely unsatisfactory conclusion to the campaign.

FORM

France

WON 5-0 (h) Faroe Islands (World Cup qualifying, October 10)

DREW 1-1 (a) Serbia (World Cup qualifying, September 9)

DREW 1-1 (h) Romania (World Cup qualifying, September 5)

WON 1-0 (a) Faroe Islands (World Cup qualifying, August 12)

WON 1-0 (h) Turkey (Friendly, June 5)

Austria

WON 2-1 (h) Lithuania (World Cup qualifying, October 10)

DREW 1-1 (a) Romania (World Cup qualifying, September 9)

WON 3-1 (h) Faroe Islands (World Cup qualifying, September 5)

LOST 2-0 (h) Cameroon (Friendly, August 12)

LOST 1-0 (a) Serbia (World Cup qualifying, June 6)

TEAM NEWS

France

Franck Ribery, Samir Nasri and Yoann Gourcuff, who is now back in training with Girondins de Bordeaux, are all still missing due to a variety of injuries. In addition, Lassana Diarra’s late yellow card against the Faroe Islands means that he is suspended from this fixture.

Hugo Lloris returns after a ban and seems likely to keep goal.

It is as yet unclear how Domenech intends to play this match. Some have suggested that he should continue with a squad along the lines of Saturday’s, while other sources have advocated a system of rotation, giving players who have previously had little chance to impress pitch-time.

Probable Starting XI: Lloris; Sagna, Gallas, Abidal, Evra; Govou, Toulalan, A. Diarra, Henry; Gignac, Anelka

Austria

Emmanuel Pogatetz, Martin Stranzl and Sebastian Proedl are all missing for the visitors, but arguably their most notable absentee is Inter’s Marko Arnautovic.

Franz Schiemer is suspended after his booking against Lithuania at the weekend. As a reliable defender and the catalyst of Marc Janko’s opening goal on Saturday, this will be a blow for the visiting side.

David Alaba will become Austria’s youngest ever player if he makes an appearance from the bench. It is likely he will be used as Austria wish to prevent Germany from staking a claim for the 17-year-old.

Probable Starting XI: Payer; Dag, Dragovic, Scharner, Ulmer; Kavlak, Pehlivan, Prager, Beichler; Janko, Wallner

PLAYERS TO WATCH

France

In Vienna, France crumbled under the Austrian aerial assault due to poor performances from their central defenders. William Gallas showed he can be a potent threat in the opposing box by registering against the Faroe Islands on Saturday, now he must prove that he is equally adept in his own penalty area.

Austria

The man who had the first say in Austria’s qualifying campaign will also be eager to have the last. Red Bull Salzburg striker Marc Janko has been utterly prolific over the last year, and the 26-year-old will want to improve on his already impressive international numbers. It took him only eight minutes to find the net against France in Vienna, although he will do well to beat that record on this occasion.

PREDICTION

France will want to continue to build on their weekend success and get some positive momentum at their backs ahead of the play-offs. Moreover, they will also want revenge on the Austrians, who set the tone for their miserable qualifying campaign, and to appease their supporters, who have made their discontent over recent results known.

France 2-0 Austria