Match 05 - Romania v France / Dan Fitch / 08 June 2008 / Leave a comment

And so we move on to Group C, the group of death. Those of a nervous disposition will be pleased to hear that no one will actually die if they are eliminated from the group.

Instead, the players get to go on their holidays earlier and have more time to negotiate a transfer to another club.

As with every group of death, there's a side that is perfectly capable, but still pales somewhat in such exalted company. In this group it's Romania, who would stand a very decent chance of qualification if they had been drawn elsewhere and would have no doubt have been labelled as a dark horse. In this group they're less a dark horse, than a mangy old pit pony, ready to be shot.

Romania kick things off in Group C with a clash against France, who many experts consider to have the strongest squad in the tournament. Despite the strength of the group, it would be a major shock if France went out before the knockout stages. Though if they did, no other nation on earth are more versed in being able to shrug it off.

Injuries may rob France of Frank Ribery and Thierry Henry, for the group opener, with the former being a far more vital loss than the latter. Apart from being immensely skilful, Ribery won my personal award as the player who most looks like a character from The Hills Have Eyes during the last World Cup and I'm looking forward to seeing if he can hold onto this crown amidst tough competition from Eastern Europe's less atheistically pleasing footballers.

Thierry Henry could never be described as ugly, but his Vroom, Vroom, Vroom certainly seems to have driven off. Henry is looking increasingly out of place in the Gillette adverts featuring him, Roger Federer and Tiger Woods. If his decline increases at the current rate, it'll be like a commercial featuring Laurence Olivier and Robert De Niro, sharing equal billing with Mike Baldwin off Coronation Street.

There has been calls for the French coach Raymond Domenech to drop Henry, but to be fair, it's a difficult call to ditch the nation's all time leading goalscorer. Henry has 44 goals from 100 appearances and if fit, will probably start alongside the 20-year-old prodigy Karim Benzema (three goals from 11 games). Also competing for a spot are Nicolas Anelka and a late addition to the squad, Bafe Gomis. If you've not seen Gomis in action, think Didier Drogba before all the acclaim turned him into a complete tosser.

So the French have plenty of attacking options and will not be scratching their heads should they require some substitutions to liven things up. But in qualification for Euro 2008 they were hardly prolific in front of goal. Their matches averaged at exactly 2.5 goals per game and they only managed to break the 2.5 barrier in 42% of their games (which included two big wins over the Faroe Islands).

Things are different though when the French actually get to a tournament. In Euro 2004, all of their group games featured three goals or more, before they surprisingly were eliminated by Greece. When they won the trophy in Euro 2000, they again broke 2.5 in every group game, though never achieved it in the tighter knockout rounds. However, in the last World Cup, France only hit the overs jackpot once, from their seven games played as losing finalists.

Romania were no slouches in front of goal in the qualifiers, averaging 2.75 goals per game and breaking 2.5 in 50% of their games. The Romanian's finished above fellow group of death member Holland in qualifying, though it should be noted that the two encounters between the sides were tight games, that only produced one goal (Romania won the home game 1-0 and drew 0-0 away).

Romania haven't qualified for a tournament for eight years and given this and the quality of the opposition, no one will blame them for playing defensively and trying to get something on the break though strike partners Mutu and Marica.

It's no surprise then that Befair punters have unders at favourite at [1.61], with overs at [2.58]. I'd expect this to be a cautious game with no more than two goals.

Tags: France, Franck Ribery, Karim Benzema, Romania, Thierry Henry