FACTBOX - France v Mexico

Published Wed, Jun 16 10 09:02 AM

France play Mexico in their second Group A match of the World Cup on Thursday.

Where: Peter Mokaba stadium, Polokwane

Capacity: 45,000

When: Thursday June 17, 2030 local (1830 GMT)

Referee: Khalil Al-Ghamdi (Saudi Arabia)

World ranking: France 9, Mexico 17

Teams: Likely formation, shirt numbers, age, caps, goals:

France (4-2-3-1) Mexico (4-3-3)

1-Hugo Lloris 23-12-0 1-Oscar Perez 37-53-0

2-Bacary Sagna 27-21-0 16-Efrain Juarez 22-20-0

5-William Gallas 32-82-5 4-Rafael Marquez 31-92-11

3-Eric Abidal 30-49-0 2-Francisco Rodriguez 28-49-1

13-Patrice Evra 29-31-0 3-Carlos Salcido 30-74-6

14-Jeremy Toulalan 26-35-0 6-Gerardo Torrado 31-115-6

19-Abou Diaby 24-6-0 12-Paul Aguilar 24-11-2

21-Nicolas Anelka 31-68-14 5-Ricardo Osorio 30-77-1

7-Franck Ribery 27-46-7 17-Giovani Dos Santos 21-27-5

15-Florent Malouda 30-55-3 9-Guillermo Franco 33-22-7

12-Thierry Henry 32-122-51 11-Carlos Vela 21-29-9

Also available:

16-Steve Mandanda 25-13-0 13-Guillermo Ochoa 24-37-0

4-Anthony Reveillere 30-6-0 23-Luis Michel 30-4-0

6-Marc Planus 28-1-0 15-Hector Moreno 22-10-0

17-Sebastien Squillaci 29-20-0 8-Israel Castro 29-31-1

22-Gael Clichy 24-4-0 18-Andres Guardado 23-57-8

18-Alou Diarra 28-25-0 19-Jonny Magallon 28-52-3

8-Yoann Gourcuff 23-21-1 20-Jorge Torres 22-8-0

10-Sidney Govou 30-47-10 7-Pablo Barrera 22-21-3

9-Djibril Cisse 28-39-9 21-Adolfo Bautista 31-37-11

11-Andre-Pierre Gignac 24-14-4 10-Cuauhtemoc Blanco 37-119-38

20-Mathieu Valbuena 25-2-1 22-Alberto Medina 27-56-6

14-Javier Hernandez 22-13-7

Trainer - Raymond Domenech Javier Aguirre

Injured - 23-Cedric Carrasso 28-0-0 None

Suspended - None None

Changes:

* France coach Raymond Domenech is expected to revert to his usual 4-2-3-1 formation with Jeremy Toulalan and Abou Diaby playing in front of the defence. Nicolas Anelka could switch to the right wing, leaving his place up front to Thierry Henry.

* Mexico coach Javier Aguirre will probably keep faith with his starting front three of Guillermo Franco, Carlos Vela and Giovani Dos Santos.

Key stats:

* France have never lost to Mexico in six matches, scoring 15 and conceding only four.

* France and Mexico are two of nine teams at the World Cup who took part in the inaugural tournament in 1930.

* If France win, Domenech will become the most successful France coach ever in terms of victories with 42, one more than Michel Hidalgo (1976-84).

Previous meetings:

13.07.30 Montevideo France 4 Mexico 1

19.06.54 Geneva France 3 Mexico 2

13.07.66 London France 1 Mexico 1

31.08.96 Paris France 2 Mexico 0

03.06.01 Ulsan France 4 Mexico 0

27.05.06 Paris France 1 Mexico 0

GROUP A STANDINGS

P W D L F A PTS

South Africa 1 0 1 0 1 1 1

Mexico 1 0 1 0 1 1 1

Uruguay 1 0 1 0 0 0 1

France 1 0 1 0 0 0 1

Past results

June 11

South Africa 1 Mexico 1

Uruguay 0 France 0

Group fixtures

June 16

South Africa v Uruguay, Pretoria 1830 GMT

June 22

Mexico v Uruguay, Rustenburg 1400 GMT

France v South Africa, Bloemfontein 1400 GMT

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Source: Web Search