Euro 2016: France vs Iceland preview

Host nation France take on Iceland, the most surprising team at Euro 2016, in the last quarter-final match of the tournament on Sunday. This is the fifth presence in the quarter-finals for France out of the last six editions for the tournament, while for Iceland this is the first time ever at an European Championship. There have been 11 direct meetings between the two sides, 8 of them won by France and 3 draws. The most recent clash was a friendly in 2012 when Iceland held a surprising 2-0 lead at half-time but France eventually won 3-2.

France have not been entirely convincing so far, yet they managed to reach the quarter finals after three wins and one draw. In the previous round they had to fight back from one goal down to beat Ireland and it all happened thanks to a quickfire double from Atletico Madrid forward Antoine Griezmann. In fact, France seemed to rely mostly on individual glimpses of quality from players like Dimitri Payet, Griezmann or Paul Pogba. Adil Rami and N'Golo Kante are suspended for this match.

Iceland are living a dream, nobody expected them to qualify for the tournament in the first place but now they are contemplating the possibility of reaching the last four. They have two wins and two draws so far at the tournament, they have scored in each match but they have also conceded in each game. The biggest upset was the round of 16 victory over England, probably the biggest upset at a major tournament in decades.

Probable line-ups:

France: Lloris - Sagna, Umtiti, Koscielny, Evra - Pogba, Cabaye, Matuidi - Griezmann, Giroud, Payet

Iceland: Halldorsson - Saevarsson, Arnason, R. Sigurdsson, Skulason - Gudmundsson, Gunnarsson, G. Sigurdsson, Bjarnason - Bodvarsson, Sigthorsson

My prediction: France to win 2-1.

Here are the odds for the match at Bet365:

France win - 1.44 Draw - 4.50 Iceland win - 9.00