World Cup: France Kick Off on the Road to Qatar 2022

France vs Ukraine

France will welcome Ukraine to the Stade de France on Wednesday as the road to the World Cup finals in Qatar in 2022 opens out in front of them.

With the rescheduled Euro 2020 due to kick off on June 11^th this week’s internationals have a dual purpose for the European sides, to hone their teams ready for the 2021 competition and to make a strong start in the qualifying campaign for Qatar.

World Cup: France vs Ukraine is a meeting of the favourites to emerge from Group D; while Bosnia could represent the biggest challenge for a top two place, Finland are big outsiders and Kazakhstan are making up the numbers.

Les Bleus are strongly fancied to get off to a winning start, but they will be wary of a Ukraine side with some dangerous players.

Talking Points

World Champions are as strong as ever

Didier Deschamps’ side reached the 2014 finals via a play-off victory over Ukraine while they qualified for Russia 2018, topping a group which featured Sweden and the Netherlands who failed to qualify. Of course Les Bleus went on to win the tournament with a 4-2 victory over Croatia in the final.

France are the World Cup 2018 Champions — France players during their UEFA Nations League battle against Portugal

The latest France vs Ukraine betting odds point firmly towards a win for Deschamps’ Bleus who won 4-2 against Sweden last time out, thanks to a brace from Olivier Giroud and goals from Benjamin Pavard and Kingsley Coman. 15 of the 23 man squad which triumphed in Russia are in Deschamps’ selection with big names such as Kylian Mbappe, Paul Pogba and Raphael Varane all set to feature. Giroud too will hope to start; though he hasn’t been an automatic pick for Thomas Tuchel at Chelsea he is only eight goals away from being Les Bleus all time top scorer, a title currently held by former Arsenal and Barcelona striker Thierry Henry.

Elsewhere Mbappe has been in outstanding form for PSG at home in Ligue 1, but also in the Champions League where his brilliant hat-trick out-shone Lionel Messi as the French champions dumped Barcelona out of Europe’s premier competition. And there is competition for places on the flank with Coman and Ousmane Dembele both in contention.

The pressure is on Ukraine’s big players

Head coach and Ukraine legend Andriy Shevchenko is presiding over a talented team which hasn’t been on the best of runs, losing all but one of their last six games. The one victory came in the Nations League over Spain so Les Bleus will do well to keep their wits about them.

Shevchenko’s team is 24^th in the FIFA football rankings, some 22 places behind France who are looking upwards at Belgium alone, and they failed to fulfill a fixture against Switzerland last November when COVID-19 hit their squad. But he has a handful of players who can hurt any opposition. Oleksandr Zinchenko is a key part of Manchester City’s quadruple chasing team and he is likely to be used higher up the field than the wing-back role he occupies for the Sky Bleus.

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Premier League

West Ham wide man Andriy Yarmolenko is a dangerous and speedy customer while Atalanta midfielder Ruslan Malinovskyi is a threat with his long range shooting and, at the back, the defence will be organised by veteran Shakhtar Donetsk keeper Andriy Pyatov.

History

France have dominated the previous meetings between these two nations, winning six, drawing three and losing just one.

And the last time they encountered each other, in October 2020, France handed out a 7-1 thrashing to their opponents. Giroud scored twice again, while Mbappe, Griezmann and young Rennes star Eduardo Camavinga were all on target.

I can’t see such a one-sided affair again at the Stade de France this time, and we’ll be back on Wednesday night with France vs Ukraine highlights. Until then, let’s take a look at the best Asian Handicap betting odds at SBOTOP and make a call.

Betting Tip

	France vs Ukraine	France Half Time and Full Time @ 1.71
	March 25, 03:45 (GMT+8)

France are at 1.20 to win this match, with the draw at odds of 5.50 and Ukraine out at 11.00 to cause a major upset.

The visitors have some star players, including Zinchenko, and they will test the France back-line, and you can get odds of 3.80 on a Double Chance Ukraine Win and Draw.

But this France team has goals running right through it and they will be keen to get after their opponents early, before they have a chance to settle, so I’m backing France to win with a half time lead.