Less than 24 hours for Les Bleus

At this time tomorrow Les Bleus will be heading off to their summer vacation...or will it be the beginning of an incredible adventure??? The situation is as follows:

• Holland must not allow Romania to beat them otherwise the France v Italy game is moot.
• If Holland beat or draw with Romania, the winner of the France v Italy game go through, Italy can go through with a draw (as long as it is not a goalless draw and some other crazy things have to happen with Romania and goals...rather not get into it)
• Bottom line....France must win tomorrow.....the rest is out of their hands.

Of course there are some interesting changes that are apparently in the works...

• Sagnol is out...Clerc will be inserted at right back. Giving Les Bleus some youth on the right flank.
• Thuram is out...Abidal will slot in to the middle of the defense. This is not a role that Abidal is not familiar with, however having an Abidal - Gallas central defense, while a good idea for the future, might not be a good idea to try at this stage....then again not sure the defense can be worse than it was during the 4 goal debacle versus the Dutch.
• Makelele out? Keke might make way for Diarra, giving France a more creative defensive midfielder. Lassana is viewed as the next "Makelele" so let us see what he can do in this venue. He did play very well at the San Siro during qualifiers, so I have no fear that the moment will overwhelm him.

Italy is due to make some changes as well, so the two sides will have some tinkered with sides heading into this must win game. So what do I think will happen?

I think both teams will be looking to win the game, they both desperately want to get to the knock out stages and both would love a chance to get back at the Dutch. I think that the Benzema-Henry-Ribery combo might click and cause the Italian back line some problems. Luca Toni will be a monster to handle for Les Bleus, but I think with Abidal in the middle they should have enough pace and athletic ability to control the Italian striker. The Italian midfield will be different once again, the one player to look out for is De Rossi. I think that had he been given the start against the Dutch the outcome might have been very different.

My prediction - France will win a scintillating game 3-2 with a last minute goal from Gallas. Romania will carry a 1-0 lead deep into the game only to see an own goal sink their chances to get to the quarter finals.

Yes wishful thinking
Yes farfetched
But this tournament has been crazy so why not more insanity...