• France leave out Mathieu Debuchy, who is on a yellow card
• Sweden without injured pair Johan Elmander and Rasmus Elm
Laurent Blanc has warned his players about the perils of underestimating Sweden and insisted that France's only focus on Tuesday night should be on victory, rather than on winning by a wide enough margin to ensure they finish top of Group D on goal difference.
France go into the game against Sweden in Kiev needing to at least match England's result against Ukraine to be sure of going through as group winners. Sweden have been eliminated after losing to Ukraine and England but Blanc is taking nothing for granted.
The France coach talked about coming up against a physical side who have "a playing style based on a lot of strength in the tackle" and urged his players to guard against complacency after their convincing 2-0 win against Ukraine.
"There is always fear that you might take your eye off the ball when you win a match," Blanc said. "We also had this in the group stage in the European Championship [qualifiers], so it's up to us to be very serious in the way we prepare. We also need to be aware of what we want to achieve. There was a lot of satisfaction after the Ukraine game, rightly so, but I said to the players we need to get back into preparing for Sweden. We're playing against a side that can't qualify but they'll want to win, so we must not underestimate Sweden.
"The start of the game will be very important. In terms of the players they've got at their disposal, Sweden expected a lot more. They're still a very difficult side to play against. They're very physical, a playing style based on a lot of strength in the tackle.
"They've got some very big players, look at the striker [Zlatan Ibrahimovic] and the goalkeeper [Andreas Isaksson], so they're going to try to impose their own game on us. We shouldn't expect a Sweden side just to make up the numbers."
Blanc also aimed another dig at England for their tactical approach against them in the opening game. "The English sat back and waited for France to come at them," he said. "I think if we want to get a result [against Sweden] we need to play football. There's nothing worse than not achieving your objective by not playing."
Although Blanc was coy about his lineup, it is possible that he will leave out Mathieu Debuchy, who is on a yellow card, and replace him with Anthony Réveillère. Yann M'vila is also expected to make his first start of the tournament, possibly at the expense of Alou Diarra, while Yohan Cabaye is a doubt because of a slight hamstring problem.
Sweden have nothing to play for, although Erik Hamren said that his players had plenty of motivation. "It's the last game and if we win we don't have three points in the World Cup but we will have a lot of feelings and self-confidence when we start the World Cup qualification," said the Sweden coach, who will be without Johan Elmander and Rasmus Elm through injury. "It means a lot for us against France. It's not only for us; it's for our supporters, the other teams too. But most of all it's for ourselves to get self-respect.
"We don't have anything to lose and can go out there and perform. Every game is important when you talk about the national team. If we are going to improve we need to play seriously every time. The players are frustrated because we haven't got the results we wanted. I feel myself, and I can see this in the players, a motivation to be better." Read More
انسخ الكود التالى و ضعه فى موقعك او مدونتك.
