YOU SAID DEATH GROUP?

The two first games of the Group C have just taken place but we are now sure that this Death group will be one of the kind and that rather unexpectedly Italy and France might be the victims. In fact, the Italian World Champions and French finalists have failed to do well for their entry in the competition. In the afternoon, France did not manage to find a solution to disrupt or worry the organisation of the Romanian team which fought during the all game to preserve what a 0-0. Without Henry and Vieira but with Anelka and Benzema, France did not make a great impression and played very too slow to be able to win a difficult game. The entries of talented hopes Samir Nasri and Bafé Gomis at the end of the game did not change anything and Romania got what it was hoping a draw against one of the favourites of the group.

If France has not been convincing for its entry in the competition, at least it has confirmed that it has a really solid defence which hardly concedes any goal (no goal conceded in the last four games). The problem is much more a failure of the French forward team to be dangerous for the adverse defence despite great players such as Ribéry, Benzema or Anelka. France was not at ease with a very defensive team such as Romania but perhaps against Holland which is, as it showed it yesterday, above all an offensive team, France will be more efficient since it will have to contain the assaults of Van Nistelrooy, Van der Vaart etc and will be able to use the rapidity of its forward players to counter-attack very quickly and to disrupt the Dutch defence which is without any doubt the weak of the Dutch team.