World Cup - France - Part 2

Defense: It is still unclear whether William Gallas will be fit for the tournament or not. The French are weak in central defense. I am not even sure who will partner Gallas if he is healthy. The fullbacks are outstanding though. Patrice Evra, Gael Clichy, Bacary Sagna, Anthony Reveillere, and Eric Adidal would all start for almost every country in the World Cup.

Defensive Midfield: I suspect the formation of choice for a lot of team sat the World Cup will be a 4-2-3-1. France will probably put Jeremy Toulalan and one of the Diarra's in the holding positions. All three players are adequate, but it is unlikely the entire trio can get through the group stage without a red card. They can all be reckless tacklers.

Attacking Midfield: Florent Malouda and Franck Ribery will be the wingers, and Yoann Gourcuff will attack through the middle. That is an outstanding group. Pace, power, trickery, technique, and the ability to score goals from all three players. Sydney Govou and Abou Diaby are also good options coming off the subs bench.

Striker: It is hard to see anyone but Thierry Henry starting any matches up front for France, even though both Djibril Cisse and Nicolas Anelka have had better season and are currently in better form.

This is a talented collection of players, and you would think a place in the knockout stages would be a foregone conclusion, considering they are in a group with Mexico, South Africa, and Uruguay. But problems are lurking just below the surface.

As I stated yesterday, Raymond Domenech is a terrible manager, he may be the worst coach at the World Cup. This is a problem because Uruguay and Mexico are both physically imposing teams, and a lot of these players don't fancy a fight. And South Africa will no doubt be lifted by raucous home crowds.

This tournament represents a final break from the great teams that won the 1998 World Cup and 2000 European Cup. Thierry Henry is the only player remaining from those squads. If this group had any other manager, I would predict a run to at least the Quarterfinals, and give them an outside shot of winning the whole thing. But with Raymond Domenech in charge, they will be lucky, very lucky in fact, to get out of the group stages.

Arsenal v Barcelona update

Injuries are really going to have an effect on the first leg of this tie. Andres Iniesta, Barcelona's extremely influential Spanish midfielder/forward, is out of today's match, and probably a doubt for the return leg next week. This is important because it is Iniesta who links play between the midfield and the strikers. Argentinians often wonder why Lionel Messi looks so much more impressive for Barcelona than he does when playing for his country, and I think the answer is he has Iniesta to get him the ball for his club.

Several other Barcelona players are either questionable or just returning from injury, including Xavi Hernandez and Gerard Pique.

Arsenal always seems to have an injury crisis, and today is no different. Andrey Arshavin and Samir Nasri, who tore Porto apart in Arsenal's last Champions League encounter, are both expected to be available despite slight injuries. Cesc Fabregas is very questionable though. He was injured against Birmingham at the weekend. I like Arsene Wenger, but just as with Robben and Bayern Munich, I have to ask why Fabregas was not rested at the weekend with such a critical match this week.

Arsenal's most important injury doubt may be William Gallas, who was expected to miss the quarterfinal entirely, but has surprised everyone by returning to training this week. He is in the squad tonight, but no one knows if he will feature in the match. Thomas Vermaelen will anchor the back line for Wenger, but without Gallas he doesn't really appear to have a worthy partner.

I predicted that Arsenal would win in London, and I am sticking with that prediction.

Champions League Draw - Arsenal v Barcelona

Here it is, the one everybody has been waiting for (The match, not my blog post). The two best passing teams in the world. The two most attacking sides in Europe. Two sides oozing with talent and quality who seem to bring world class youngsters through their academies just for fun. Just about guarantees it will finish 0-0 and come down to penalty kicks in a shootout.

Seriously, given all of the attacking talent on display, it is safe to say this tie will be decided by defense. The problem for Arsenal here is that a major part of their defense (William Gallas) has a calf injury and is out for the first leg, and probably the whole tie. This leaves Thomas Vermaelen, who has been a rock at the back, along with Sol Campbell, who will struggle to keep up with the likes of Pedro, Xavi, Iniesta, and Messi. Alexandre Song will play the holding midfield role, and he will attempt to shield the back four. THis is especially important because a lot of what Barcelona does in possession starts deep, with Xavi and Iniesta working their way through the midfield to create chances for Messi, Pedro, and Ibrahimovic.

As for the Catalan giants, they have their own defensive frailties. Puyol is well past his prime, and Dani Alves is not exactly known for his defending. A lot will fall on Busquets, who has been patrolling central midfield recently, as the manager does not appear to be seeing eye-to-eye with Yaya Toure. The movement of Arshavin and Nasri, coupled with the passing of Fabregas, will give Barca's back-line a lot to deal with. I would like to think we are in for a couple of rollicking 4-3 games, resulting in a wild 30 minutes of extra time at the Camp Nou, but that is unlikely.

I am going against the grain a little bit here, as I think Arsenal will nick it. They will take a lead to Spain, and score an away goal that allows them to progress. In fact I am going to go ahead and make a bold prediction. Arsenal will not only win this tie, they will get to the final, and lift the trophy in Madrid in May.