France vs. Honduras, 2014 World Cup: Easy win for Les Bleus

This was just a really, really dumb foul.

And Karim Benzema’s finish was gorgeous.

Somehow, this only resulted in a yellow card, even though it certainly constitutes dangerous play and produced a decent fight. This is going to be a nasty game.

There is a slight surprise in Luis Fernando Suárez’s preference for a 4-4-2 over a more defensive 4-3-3 for Honduras, with Jerry Bengtson starting up top alongside Carlo Costly. That means Roger Espinoza will probably start wide on the left, and young Andy Najar on the right. Óscar Boniek García has to settle for a spot on the bench.

France starting lineup (4-3-3): Hugo Lloris; Patrice Evra, Mamadou Sakho, Raphaël Varane, Mathieu Debuchy; Blaise Matuidi, Yohan Cabaye, Paul Pogba; Antoine Griezmann, Karim Benzema, Mathieu Valbuena.

Having said that, Honduras aren’t an awful team -- there simply aren’t any of those in this World Cup. They’re respectable defensively, have some good wide players and their strikers are very physical players. They’re likely to have trouble keeping the ball at all when they win it, though, and their strikers can’t create anything on their own.

Franck Ribery didn’t make it for France, and it’s probably that Mathieu Valbuena will start in his stead. Another question will be the defensive partnership - Laurent Koscielny will be one, but neither Mamadou Sakho or Raphael Varane had particularly great seasons. France could instead turn to Eliaquim Mangala, the very-much in-demand Porto centre-back. 4-3-3 will undoubtedly be the formation, and it looks like midfield has been settled upon - Paul Pogba, Yohan Cabaye and Blaise Matuidi, while the other two attacking spots will go to Karim Benzema and Antoine Griezmann.

Meanwhile for Honduras, we sadly don’t get to see a Scottish third-tier playing at the World Cup as Arnold Peralta misses out through injury. a 4-4-2 formation is most likely, spearheaded by Carlo Costly and Jerry Bengtson, with Roger Espinoza holding things together in midfield.

Honduras, meanwhile, do like to keep the ball on the ground but they’re generally a team of well-organised workhorses who need to be strong and play as a team to have any chance of victory. They have a small talent pool and while they may have some faces known to watchers of the Premier League and La Liga, they’re going to spend the vast majority of this tournament on the back foot.

Paul Pogba is possibly already the greatest midfielder in the world, which is terrifying giving his tender age. A phenomenally complete player, he combines physicality with technique, being tall and strong but also quick-footed, who is equally capable at either end of the pitch. With Ribery out, he’ll undoubtedly be the main hope of carrying this France side.