Both teams have serious issues. A few of France’s stars are involved in a nasty sex scandal involving an underaged hooker, and disgraced themselves at the World Cup; the legal travails of England’s players this season alone could fill a book.
What a change from just a dozen years ago, when this game would have been the biggest date on the world calendar.
In 1998 the French, with Blanc a player and Zinedine Zidane at the top of his career, would both host and win the World Cup, then go on to capture the Euro crown two years later. It was the realization of a dream for a country whose contributions to world football always had exceeded the nation's performance on the field. Many thought the golden generation would beget another, and why not? Franck Ribery, Nicolas Anelka, Eric Abidal and Gael Clichy were emerging club stars.
The England of 1998 featured a young David Beckham, arguably the world’s most influential player. But Beckham was red-carded in a memorable World Cup eliminator against Argentina and subsequently forced to rebuild his career in the face of withering public criticism.
Like Capello, when Blanc looks at his available roster he probably feels comfortable only in one spot: Hugo Lloris is the best French 'keeper since Fabien Barthez. After he writes in Lloris, Blanc might as well pulls names out of a hat.
Clichy and Bacary Sagna are solid on defense, but are Eric Abidal and Anthony Reveillere really options even two years down the road? And, yes, Florent Malouda is an outstanding player at Chelsea, but that does not turn him into a big midfield gun. One suspects that role will eventually fall on Samir Nasri, whose season at Arsenal has been efficient (efficency doesn’t equal brilliance, mind you, and one must note that with France, though, Nasri cannot use Cesc Fabregas as his get out of jail card).
There’s little room to move. Yoann Gourcuff is simply not ready for prime time, and while Mathieu Valbuena is encouraging, he’s got a long way to go. And up top, good as Karim Benzema can look, he also takes a second fiddle role at Real Madrid. Asking him to shoulder the French scoring burden has proved difficult. There’s little else. Loic Remy? Please.
If you get both managers away from the media spotlight they'd probably both tell you that playing this friendly at this time isn't exactly anyone's cup of tea.
England supporters are notoriously unrealistic, so anything but a victory over their old enemy will leave them cursing the fates and doubtless calling for "an Englishman" to manage the guys in white.
Blanc may have a longer leash simply because the French probably figure that the price to be paid for 1998 and 2000 is a few years in the wilderness. And hey, a few lost games are surely preferable to the sordid headlines that have plagued this bunch of late.
The bottom line? Don’t expect much from either team. They’re working on the foundations right now, and good things are a long way off.
Jamie Trecker is a senior writer for FoxSoccer.com covering the UEFA Champions League.
