Euro 2012 Preview: France

France will be looking to bounce back from their dreadful 2010 World Cup campaign when they take on England, Sweden and Ukraine in Group D of the European Championships this summer.

National team coach Laurent Blanc finalised the 23-man squad that will travel to Ukraine and Poland last week and justified his decision not to include Lyon’s expensive playmaker Yoann Gourcuff by saying the 25 year old’s niggling ankle injury was too much of a risk.

Although some of their performances in the qualifiers left much to be desired, Les Bleus’ impressive 2-1 win against Germany in Bremen in February stretched their unbeaten run to 18 games, giving them a major boost ahead of the tournament.

Hugo Lloris’ team-mates will first lock horns with England at the Donbass Arena in Donetsk on the 11th of June.

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