Euro 2008 Betting: Henry needs to start scoring...

Internationals / Alsy / 31 May 2008 / Leave a Comment

Morgan in the driving seat - Allsy watched as France's new sensation Bafétimbi Gomis scored twice on debut and made the France squad when the likes of Cisse and Trezeguet didn't. The likes of Thierry Henry better start scoring if they don't want to lose out to Gomis..

As Raymond Domenech prepares for a titanic struggle in the Euro 08 group-of-death, he's chosen home friendlies against Ecuador, Paraguay and Colombia. How this trio of Latin nations helps to prepare for games against Romania, Netherlands and Italy is up for debate but it undeniably presents an opportunity for experiment against lightweight opposition.

On this side of the pond friendly games are pretty much derided but you're not likely to hear Domenech complaining. On Tuesday in Grenoble, France beat Ecudor 2-0 with both goals from second-half substitute Bafétimbi Gomis.

Making his first senior appearance, Gomis came on for Marseille's Djibril Cisse and if Cisse had any inclination of what was coming, he might just have followed the lead of sulking teammate William Gallas and sat crying in the centre circle.

Queue one virtuoso performance and two impressive goals from the St-Étienne striker and it was curtains for Cisse. A couple of days later Domenech revealed Gomis in his final squad with no place for Cisse.

Gomis was only called into the provisional 30-man squad at the last minute and a few days later he's the most exciting France striking talent since Henry. France play Paraguay in Toulouse and the 6ft Gomis is now a player everyone wants to watch. Not since Zinedine Zidane has a debutant scored a brace on his international debut. His introduction changed a pedestrian game (where France were struggling to find any fluency) into a national triumph.
Gomis has something special about him but don't take my word for it... view the skills here and see what all the fuss is about. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vc_JbXdEQrU&feature=relatedWhile France celebrate their discovery, there's at least one Frenchman feeling a sense of frustration. My sources tell me that Arsene Wenger had been tracking Gomis, planning to add him to a long and distinguished list of Ligue 1 players (with shocking hair and awesome talent) to rock the Premiership.

Henry, Makelele and Vieira were all rested against Ecuador so expect the big guns to return against Paraguay. The great news is that the live match is available to view on Betfair Live Video.

Paraguay shouldn't put up too much resistance so expect a high-scoring affair. They won their last World Cup qualifier away to Chile 3-0 but since then they've lost two friendlies against Honduras and South Africa. They challange Brazil in their next qualifier so facing the full talents of France is probably a wise choce in a bizarre way.

Paraguay coach Gerardo Martino is still rebuilding the side but there is talent in the squad. Martino will look to midfielders, Edgar Barreto and Julio dos Santos, who have experience playing at Reggina and Bayern Munich respectively. However, the real star of the Paraguayan squad remains Blackburn's Roque Santa Cruz.

Since Bayern signed him as a highly-rated teenager in 1999 he's faced many of the best defenders in the world. Santa Cruz left Bayern because he was not winning enough starts - Mark Hughes has reaped the benefits after putting his faith in the striker, who scored an impressive 19 goals on his debut season.

You can back Paraguay to win at [8.4] but there's little chance of that happening on French soil. The draw is [4.8] with a France win at [1.48] but there's much more value in trying to match the correct score.

In the shape of Henry, Benzema (top scorer in Ligue 1 this season), Anelka and Gomis, Domenech has plenty of fire-power up top. At the back Domenech had enough talent to leave Escudé and Mexes out of his final squad.

The number of France players, featuring in the recent Champions League final, French Cup final and the Coppa Italia, was a stunning 21. That's enough strength in depth to see off any opposition on home soil. A feel-good victory against the South Americans will also help the forthcoming European excursion so I'd back France to win 3-0 at [9.6].