World Cup Group A: France

Favoured by the cheating hand of fate during qualifying, France will need more than good luck to make an impact in South Africa. The 1998 winners have under-performed since reaching the 2006 final and needed Thierry Henry’s now infamous handball against Republic of Ireland to qualify for this one. Coached by the unpopular Raymond Domenech, who will quit after the tournament, Les Bleus have their problems. They were emphatically beaten at home by Spain in March and more recently, there has been the scandal involving players being interviewed by police investigating a prostitution network in Paris.

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Aim: World Cup finalists last time out, France would probably consider anything less than a semi-final spot a disappointment, despite their woeful qualifying campaign.

THREE KEY PLAYERS

HUGO LLORIS A highly-rated goalkeeper who represented his country at all levels and was vital in helping Lyon on their run to this year’s Champions League semi-finals. After starting the World Cup qualifying campaign as second choice behind Steve Mandanda, Lloris is the undisputed number one.

YOANN GOURCUFF Considered to be the natural heir to Zinedine Zidane, the 23-year-old Bordeaux playmaker made his international debut in 2008 and was in inspirational form during qualification, which included a 30-yard equaliser against Romania – his first goal for France and one that is credited with saving Domenech’s job.

NICOLAS ANELKA The Chelsea striker has slowly matured into France’s top goalscorer during the last three years, having been ignored for their home World Cup in 1998, Korea/Japan in 2002 and Germany 2006. He hit 15 goals in 44 games this season as the London Premier League side claimed a historic double.

THE MANAGER

RAYMOND DOMENECH Despised by the French public and press, and reportedly not too popular with the players. He bizarrely proposed to his girlfriend live on TV after a dismal Euro 2008 exit and admits astrology is a factor in team selection. The 58-year-old replaced Jacques Santini after Euro 2004 and led Les Bleus to the World Cup final but suffered a shocking Euro 2008 and they were almost as poor during World Cup qualification.

HOW THEY QUALIFIED

L 3-1 Austria (A) W 2-1 Serbia (H) D 2-2 Romania (A) W 0-1 Lithuania (A) W 1-0 Lithuania (H) W 1-0 Faroe Islands (A) D 1-1 Romania (H) D 1-1 Serbia (A) W 5-0 Faroe Islands (H) W 3-1 Austria (H) Finished second behind Serbia

Play-off W 0-1 Rep Ireland (A) D 1-1 Rep Ireland (H) after extra time

WORLD CUP BEST

1998: Aime Jacquet oversaw France’s maiden win in front of their delirious home fans, defeating Brazil 3-0 at the Stade de France in Paris.

Daniel "Pitchside" Pitcher Twitter: @DanFM104Sport About: Dan "Pitchside" Pitcher provides insight and commentary as the chief soccer and rugby correspondent for Sportspeak.