French hold the trump card

France appear to have the best chance of ending Italy’s ten-year domination of the UEFA European Under-21 Championship following the emergence of a new generation of potential world champions.

New names
Names like Julien Escudé, Pegguy Luyindula and Mickaël Landreau may not be widely recognised outside their native France at the moment but they will be soon. France finished top of qualifying Group 7 and were unbeaten with 20 points from eight matches. Only Spain and Austria took a point from them.

Play-off success
The French finished four points clear of Spain in the group and met a rugged Romanian team in the play-off. Drawn away for the first leg, attacking midfielder Steed Malbranque virtually settled French qualification for the finals with a crucial away goal.

Brest beating
Taking a 1-0 lead into the home leg in Brest, France won 4-0. This was followed up in April this year with a psychologically important 3-2 friendly victory against Italy, who have won four of the last five European titles. Italy have knocked France out of the competition three times in the last eight years but the victory in Como will have provided the belief that France can bring the title back across the Alps for only the second time.

Cissé missing
Domenech will have to do without star striker Djibril Cissé in Switzerland as the promising youngster has been selected for the FIFA World Cup squad. Luyindula will replace Cissé up front. The Kinshasa-born striker, who turns 23 during the competition, has scored twelve goals in just 14 U-21 appearances, including eight in six European Championship qualifying matches.

Cool head
Goalkeeper Landreau is a cool head and has already won a full international cap. He has been playing in France’s elite division for five seasons for FC Nantes Atlantique and won Le Championnat with them last year. He has 38 Under-21 caps.

Solid defence
Domenech has built a rock-solid defence based around central defenders Escudé and Lyon’s Jeremie Brechet. The towering Brechet has won 22 caps and has developed a close understanding with Stade Rennais FC left-sided central defender Escudé.