THE decision not to pick Samir Nasri for the French squad is an indication of Didier Deschamps' ruthlessness, though the Manchester City midfielder's omission wasn't a major surprise.

 

Outright odds: 22/1

To win group: 4/5

To qualify: 1/5

 

Full squad: Hugo Lloris (Tottenham Hotspur), Steve Mandanda (Olympique Marseille), Mickael Landreau (Bastia), Mathieu Debuchy (Newcastle United), Lucas Digne (Paris St Germain) Patrice Evra (Manchester United), Laurent Koscielny (Arsenal), Eliaquim Mangala (Porto), Bacary Sagna (Arsenal), Mamadou Sakho (Liverpool), Raphael Varane (Real Madrid), Yohan Cabaye (Paris St Germain), Clement Grenier (Olympique Lyon), Blaise Matuidi (Paris St Germain), Rio Mavuba (Lille), Paul Pogba (Juventus), Moussa Sissoko (Newcastle United), Mathieu Valbuena (Olympique Marseille), Karim Benzema (Real Madrid), Olivier Giroud (Arsenal), Antoine Griezmann (Real Sociedad), Loic Remy (QPR), Franck Ribery (Bayern Munich).

Manager: Didier Deschamps

World Cup record: Winners (1998), runners-up (2006), third (1958, 1986), fourth (1982)

How they qualified (most recent first): After finishing second behind Spain in UEFA Group I, France qualified for the World Cup by overcoming Ukraine 3-2 on aggregate - overturning a 2-0 first-leg deficit in the process.

v Ukraine (home) 3-0 (HT 2-0) Sakho 22, 72, Benzema 34

v Ukraine (away) 0-2 (HT 0-0)

v Finland (home) 3-0 (HT 1-0) Ribery 8, OG 77, Benzema 87

v Belarus (away) 4-2 (HT 0-1) Ribery 47, 64p, Nasri 71, Pogba 74

v Georgia (away) 0-0 (HT 0-0)

v Spain (home) 0-1 (HT 0-0)

v Georgia (home) 3-1 (HT 1-0) Giroud 45+1, Valbuena 47, Ribery 61

v Spain (away) 1-1 (HT 0-1) Giroud 90+4

v Belarus (home) 3-1 (HT 0-0) Capoue 48, Jallet 68, Ribery 80

v Finland (away) 1-0 (HT 1-0) Diaby 20

Goalscorers: Bayern Munich's Franck Ribery topped the scoring charts with four in qualifying.

Half-time/full-time: France won four of their six qualifying matches (including their play-off win) by leading at half-time.

Clean sheets: France kept four clean sheets in 10 qualifying games (including play-offs).

Win to nil: Three of their six wins were 'to nil'.

Other competitive internationals: None. The last competitive games for Europe's elite other than qualifying came at Euro 2012 where France disappointed in the group stage, scraped through to the quarter-finals and lost to eventual champions Spain.

Build-up (most recent first): France have impressed since booking their spot in Brazil with a March win over the Netherlands a notable one. Norway were thrashed but a late equaliser against Paraguay in Paris denied them another victory.

v Paraguay (home) 1-1 (HT 0-0) Griezmann 82

v Norway (home) 4-0 (HT 1-0) Pogba 15, Giroud 51, 69, Remy 67

v Netherlands (home) 2-0 (HT 2-0) Benzema 32, Matuidi 41

 

Team verdict: The decision not to pick Samir Nasri for the French squad is an indication of Didier Deschamps' ruthlessness, though the Manchester City midfielder's omission was a major surprise.

In his absence, responsibility weighs heavily on the talents of Franck Ribery and Karim Benzema and you feel if France are to go deep into the tournament then those two will have had to have outstanding competitions.

They should have the class to justify skinny qualification odds, but 22/1 about their outright chances doesn't get the pulse racing.

It should be noted that Benzema struggled in Euro 2012 and though he's been in good form for Real Madrid it wouldn't really surprise if he drew another blank.

Olivier Giroud doesn't appeal to take the tournament by storm and Ribery might not be fully fit.