France v Romania
Stade de France, Paris Saint-Denis
Fifa World Cup 2010 qualifiers
Saturday, 5th September 2009 - Kickoff 21:00 GMT+1

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France ( 2nd ) 4-1-1 8:6

News :
Another match under pressure for Raymond Domenech who is constantly being accused by French press because of the poor performances they had lately.

“Le parisien” named him confused and said that after 5 years under Domenech’s command, France national team still didn’t discovered a style and their game is swinging between boredom and incoherence. On the other hand FFF President, Jean-Pierre Escalettes declared that Domenech won’t be dismissed even if he loses against Romania and Serbia.

Form :
France had a disappointing start of the qualifying campaign in Vienna, where they suffered a 3-1 defeat. Succeeded in earning an important victory in their second match against Serbia, who looks to be favorite of the group so far (18 points after 7 games) thanks to Henry and Anelka, 2-1. In their last match against Faroe Island they only managed a narrow 1-0 win thanks to a first-half goal by Gignac.

Squad :
No important missing players, maybe just Vieira, but France is well covered in the middle, with Diarra and Toulalan. After a clash at a training session between Diaby and Hugo Lloris, Lyon’s goalkeeper needed the medics intervention but he is fit to play. Other players with minor injuries (Gourcuff, Gallas and Alou Diarra) are all fit to play against Romania.

Probable French team :
Lloris
Sagna, Escude, Gallas, Evra
Diarra, Toulalan
Ribery, Gourguff, Malouda
Gignac
Gignac is Domenech’s surprise for this match, saying about him that he is the proper striker against a crowded defense, because he doesn’t need much space and he strikes fast and well. However he may change his mind until the game starts. Henry or Benzema could appear in the 1st “11”.

Last 5 home results for France :
2009-08-12 France 1-0 Turkey Friendly
2009-06-02 France 0-1 Nigeria Friendly
2009-04-01 France 1-0 Lithuania WC qualifier
2009-02-11 France 0-2 Argentina Friendly
2008-11-19 France 0-0 Uruguay Friendly

Romania (5th) 2-1-3 7:10

News :
Second official game for Romania’s new coach, Razvan Lucescu ( Mircea Lucescu’s son). At his debut he succeeded to win the away game in Lithuania, 1-0. Romania only has a mathematical chance to qualify, so the new coach’s mission is to reconstruct the team.

Form :
Romania started the qualifiers with an unbelievable defeat at home against Lithuania, when they lost with 3-0.

Everybody said at that time that Victor Piturca should resign, but he insisted to stay until he took away almost every hope of qualifying to the World Cup after a home defeat against Serbia (3-2) and his last game, a loss against Austria (2-1).

However the change of coach made an impact to the team, and they started show some improvement lately, winning their last 2 games against Lithuania and Hungary, both away, both with 1-0.

Squad :
AdrianMutu is the big absence from the Romanian squad, he has a muscular injury and he needs to stay away from the pitch 3 weeks. Razvan Rat had an ankle injury at a training session but doctors give him good odds to be able to play.

Probable Romanian team :
Coman
Maftei, Rădoi, Chivu, Raţ
Mara, Apostol, Ghioane, Max Nicu
Surdu, Marica
Surdu is the favorite to replace Mutu but this is a move Razvan Lucescu is still thinking about. He may also use Gigel Bucur, Ionel Danciulescu or Ionut Mazilu.

Last 5 away results for Romania :
12-08-2009 Hungary 0-1 Romania Friendly
06-06-2009 Lithuania 0-1 Romania WC qualifiers
01-04-2009 Austria 2-1 Romania WC qualifiers
10-09-2008 Feroe Island 0-1 Romania WC qualifiers
06-02-2008 Israel 1-0 Romania Friendly

Head to Head

The first match in the 2010 WC qualifiers between these 2 teams played in Constanta, Romania, ended a draw, 2-2. Romania had an excellent first half, leading 2-1 after dominating France (admitted by Domenech) but in the second half Gourcuff scored a great goal that set the final score.

Last 3 results:
11-10-2008 Romania 2-2 France WC qualifier
09-06-2008 France 0-0 Romania EURO 08, Zurich
13-02-2002 France 2-1 Romania Friendly

Romania never won an official match against France, having 2 draws and 2 defeats.

The Betting Verdict :

I can‘t see any other result than a France win. If you take a look at the squads you will see the difference between the 2 teams.

Romania doesn’t have any offensive strength, the only danger for Lloris could be Marica but even he is a substitute at Stuttgart.

I think that the game will be dominated by France and even if they won’t score many goals (Romania is not a team that concedes many goals, and France doesn’t have a very good scoring appetite at the moment) they will manage to win this.

The only result Romania can think of is a goalless draw, but I don’t think they could hold France for 90 minutes even if under Lucescu’s command Romania has a lot more organized game.

The Pick :

France 2-0 Romania (or 1-0)

FIXED ODDS BETTING :

Take France to win

Also consider:
Under 2.5 goals bet
OR a HT/FT bet of Draw (HT) / France (FT)