The French, in a way, saved England’s World Cup campaign; they provided consolation for England’s abject showing. At least England made it into the second round? Scant consolation it must be said but the French demonstrated a chaotic implosion that made England’s African experience seem almost leisurely. The French have expelled the majority of their World Cup squad and appointed a new leader in the former Manchester United defender, Laurent Blanc. His task is simple: make the French a force again (but preferably without any player led mutiny). England took a slightly less radical approach after the World Cup with Capello not only keeping his job but also sticking with the majority of players that Germany embarrassed on that fateful night in Bloemfontein.
Capello has subsequently earmarked the friendly against France as a risk free chance to blood some of the nations most talented young players. It is a chance for these youngsters to prove that they have what it takes to wear the three lions on a regular basis. Jack Wilshere will almost definitely start after his fantastic start to the season with Arsenal. Wilshere is the jewel in the crown of the next generation of English internationals. Technically gifted, tactically astute, and with an eye for goal he represents everything the English midfield didn’t have in South Africa. And as every week goes by Gareth Barry’s place in the team is becoming more and more precarious. The friendly will also hopefully provide Jordan Henderson with his first full international cap. Henderson has flown under the radar at Sunderland but is maturing into an exceptional midfielder, so much so that the likes of Man City and Chelsea are believed to watching his development very closely.
Irrespective of his off field troubles, Newcastle’s new hero Andy Carroll is expected to play some part. Sitting level on goals with Didier Drogba and Dimitar Berbatov, Carroll provides all the aerial threat and physicality of Emile Heskey coupled with a fantastic scoring ability. If he manages to tone down his twilight activities England could well have mirrored Newcastle and found their new Alan Shearer. The England team will also feature Adam Johnson and Ashley Young, players who both missed out on the World Cup but now look like they are ready to make the step up to the national side. Only injuries have ruled out the extremely promising Jack Rodwell and Kieran Gibbs, but given their undoubted ability their time will surely come.
France themselves will field a team with few names recognisable to the casual football fan. There will be no Anelka, no Henry and no Ribery. The French have already placed their trust in their next generation to mixed results, losing to Norway and at home to lowly Belarus. There has been a recent upturn in results with successive victories against Romania and Luxembourg putting the French qualifying campaign back on track. The game at Wembley will provide World Cup failures such as Yohann Gourcuff and Florent Malouda further opportunity to redeem themselves, however Blanc has insisted he is more focused on the new breed. Players such as Loic Remy, Mathieu Valbuena and Anthony Reveillere will be relatively unknown quantities to most English fans, having spent all their careers in Le Championnat.
The summer did provide one bright spark for the French with their Under 19 team winning the European Championship, outclassing the much fancied Spain in the Final. The team displayed a swagger and flair not seen in a French shirt since the start of the decade; Chelsea’s Gael Kakuta and Arsenal’s Gilles Sunu both demonstrated extraordinary raw potential. Prior to the French teams triumph it was the English Under 17 team that took home silverware in the summer of 2010, becoming the first English team since Robbie Fowler, Paul Scholes and Sol Campbell took home the same trophy. Trevor Brooks has eulogised over this generation, comparing their passing game to that of the Spanish. Chelsea’s Josh McEachran and Ipswich’s imposing Connor Wickham possess arguably the greatest potential. All that is needed now is game time for these boys and the space to let them mature without any undue pressure.
Both France and England have a long way to go before their fans are fully behind each side but with good opening European qualifying results the future seems more promising. It is the slightly more distant future in which the two teams may be successful as the alumni of the youth European Championship winning teams continue to blossom. A result for either of the two teams against their bitter rivals will give one team a fantastic boost as they vie to completely clear their head of a World Cup hangover.