EURO 2012: Blanc plays a waiting game

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French manager Laurent Blanc will take his time in naming his final squad for the 2012 European Championships.

 

The former World and European Champion Blanc, who took control of France after their disastrous 2010 World Cup campaign, will name two squads; firstly a home based squad on May 9th, and then a foreign based squad the following week.

 

Blanc will assess the 46 man strong panel, trimming it down significantly before he announces his final 23. The former Manchester United centre half has not yet set a date for his final announcement, but it will have to be before the May 29 deadline.

 

The French have been on a good run of late, Les Bleus are on an 18 game unbeaten run. As well as this run, France have only conceded four goals during qualifying, with just a goal conceded every two and a half games.

 

Despite this, France are 12th favourites out of 16 teams, and the bookies aren’t the only people playing down the French chances.