Blanc suffers shock defeat to Belarus in first competitive game
Published:Laurent Blanc’s reign as French manager started with a disastrous start after a late goal from Sergei Kislyak led to a shock defeat to Belarus.
French captain Florent Malouda claimed the side showed it’s “naivety” and said “you have to face up to your responsibilities, [whether you have], one cap, two or 100.”
The road to redemption will prove long and hard for Blanc and his team must overcome the disappointment in time for the trip to Bosnia on Tuesday where they are 6/4 to win.
Italy won a nervy encounter with Estonia in Tallinn after coming from behind to win 2-1 as they also look to recover from their awful World Cup performance.
Goals from Antonio Cassano and Leonardo Bonucci steered Italy to their first win under new coach Cesare Prandelli, and they will head into Tuesday’s game with Faroe Islands, 1/80 to win, confident they can add to their goal tally.
Spain showed their class in a 4-0 romp over Lichtenstein thanks to two goals from Liverpool’s Fernando Torres.
Torres was in impressive form for Spain, scoring a glorious chipped finish for Spain’s first goal, and Liverpool fans will be pleased with their star strikers display.
David Villa netted his 44th goal for Spain with a top class strike from the edge of the box, equaling Raul’s international goalscoring record, and Manchester City’s David Silva finished off the rout after coming off the bench.
A Portugal side missing Cristano Ronaldo threw away two points against Cyprus after a frantic 4-4 draw in Lisbon.
Portugal head to Norway on Tuesday looking for a win, they are 11/8 to do so, in need of a strong start to their qualifying campaign after only just making the World Cup in their last qualifying campaign.
France’s football team are in dire straights and Bosnia are 6/4 to beat them on Tuesday. See the full 2012 European Championship football betting market here.
