France – Where to begin with this most disjointed team of mavericks? Coached by Eugene Levy of American Pie fame (or is that Raymond Domenech?), the French always seem to be there or thereabouts in the final reckoning.

More questions have been realised since Lassana Diarra was ruled out – they could probably have replaced this Claude Makelele lookalike with, well… Claude Makelele. No one would have been the wiser. However, a re-jig has seen Florent Malouda introduced into a three-man central midfield alongside the outstanding Yoann Gourcuff, with anchorman Jeremy Toulalan holding it together. Clearly it can be argued that this system restricts Gourcuff, an attacking midfielder by nature, by placing too much defensive responsibility on him. With Malouda the other forward-thinking player in the three, the more harmonious trio of defensive Toulalan, creator Gourcuff and multi-tasking dynamo Diarra it seems, will be missed.It is a far cry from the Golden Generation’ that called upon Vieira, Zidane and Makelele – all leaders too, before we forget that the current team lacks a real commander. Much will be expected of Franck Ribery, who will surely relish the chance to banish the memories of a woeful end of season which saw him play second fiddle to Bayern Munich teammate Arjen Robben as the team’s protagonist; failing to perform in the big games, missing the Champions League Final and embroiled in a prostitution scandal that perhaps scuppered any chance of a move to one of Europe’s giants. Now is the time for Ribery to step forward and show he really is the next leader of the French team since the great Zidane, before someone else does.

A lack of cohesion really does belie the quality in this side, most likely to be led by left back Patrice Evra, who has been described as a “powerful influence in the dressing room” by both his club manager Sir Alex Ferguson, and the beleaguered Domenech. In goal they may boast two of Europe’s finest young keepers in LLoris and Mandanda, but of course you can only play one at a time. Wouldn’t the French wish they had instead one great keeper and perhaps a decent centre-half? The coaches’ lack of concern regarding the form and fitness of William Gallas is hardly re-assuring, considering his replacement is the even less inspiring Sebastien Squillaci. What of his partner in the middle, Eric Abidal? Ostensibly a left-back at his club Barcelona, he has struggled for consistency of late and it is no secret that they are on the lookout for a replacement. He is even overlooked for a role in the middle when Carles Puyol or Gerard Pique are unavailable, in favour of defensive midfielder Yaya Toure. A token mention for Thierry Henry, who will be (rightfully) confined to the bench. Still, not a bad option to have. They did leave out another out-of-form player in Karim Benzema, so will the less glamorous likes of Djibril Cisse, having thrived in the not-so frightening Greek League and Andre-Pierre Gignac, of 8 goals in 35 appearances last season, be able to support Nicolas Anelka in scoring goals?

When evaluating a team that has lacked unity, faith in the outgoing coach and consistency, both tactically and in form – there isn’t usually much to say of a positive nature. The question is, which France will turn up in South Africa? Surely not the team which surprised everyone in 2006 and dragged themselves to within inches of victory?

Let’s not forget that for all Africa has given to football, it is the French who have long benefitted the most – boasting a large array of naturalised citizens and 1st or 2nd generation descendents in their ranks. Plenty have proved genuinely top-drawer in quality. In their likely starting XI, as many as 8 can identify an African heritage. Could this stage prove the inspiration, a homecoming, of sorts?

Mexico – With a squad consisting of a heavy set of small, tricky attackers and just four recognised orthodox midfielders, Javier Aguirre will be placing great faith in Mexico’s very own Golden Generation, a group who have yet to really push on having won honours at youth levels. Perhaps attention shouldn’t be too focused on this though, considering Argentina’s dominance at youth level – their players have certainly made themselves famous, but it has rarely translated into international success since 1986. As evidenced against England, their confidence in possession and interchanging patterns can cause dizziness in opposition defences, but going the other way they leave a lot to be desired. Led by Barcelona’s Rafael Marquez, whose quality is not matched by his peers, they will probably not be able to stave off opposition attacks quite as well as they’ll be able to create chances.

They will benefit from the emergence of new Manchester United signing Javier Hernandez, a prolific goalscorer who will hope to feed off the service from the likes of Tottenham reject Giovani Dos Santos, Arsenal’s highly rated prodigy Carlos Vela (said by Arsene Wenger to be the reason a replacement for Adebayor was not signed) and the true veteran Cautehemoc Blanco. On hearing his inexperienced brother, Jonathan Dos Santos, was dropped, Giovani threatened to quit the squad, something that hardly inspires confidence regarding their prospects.

In a group with the weak hosts South Africa and the perplexing French, Mexico aren’t quite out of it but they’ll need to rely on a few things going wrong for their opponents. Get your nachos ready and enjoy what will hopefully be an exhibition of Mexico’s finest, but maybe just too short, generation.

next: Uruguay & South Africa

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