SPAIN v FRANCE - THE BEAN PREVIEW

France 11/5 Draw 2/1 Spain 13/10 - UK Betting

The last game of the second round sees two local rivals clash horns as the Mediterranean teams of France and Spain kick off in Hanover. There have been 27 meetings between the two teams, with the Spanish more successful by having eleven wins to France's ten. There has been six draws. The last competitive match between the two was at Euro 2000 where France won 2-1. This will be the first ever fixture between the two at the World Cup.

Luis Aragones has made two changes to the normal starting eleven. Cesc Fabregas of Arsenal and Raul of Real Madrid who impressed in the match against Tunisia comes in for Luis Garcia and Marcos Senna.

Raymond Domenech is yet to decide whether to play Thierry Henry up front by himself or bring in David Trezeguet to have a two man attack. Eric Abidal and Zinedine Zidane return from one match suspensions.

This is widely expected to be a close tight game and not many goals in it. The French are very resilient at the back, but have had trouble getting goals. Spain has only conceded one goal so far but has managed to score eight. I think there will be a result after ninety minutes, but it will be a 1-0 win to either team. A 1-0 win for Spain is 9/2 and a 1-0 win for France is 13/2.

Fernando Torres will want to get on the score sheet today, so he can keep the pressure on Miroslav Klose for the Golden Boot competition. For the Athletico Madrid striker to score first the odds are 11/2. His strike partner David Villa has odds of 6/1 to score first.

Thierry Henry has been the only real threat of scoring for France in the whole tournament, which reflects in the odds of him to score first which are 5/1. His possible strike partner Trezeguet is 15/2. If Ribery actually converts one of his chances first you can get odds of 14/1

My Prediction - 1-0 to Spain - 9/2

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