France v Belarus: Minnows looking for repeat of 2010 upset

Belarus can be backed at 11/1 to pull off a repeat of their heroics of two years ago when they sunk France in Paris to send shockwaves throughout the footballing world.

They snuck a 1-0 win that night in the face of huge odds and then followed it up by holding them to a 1-1 draw in the return fixture in Minsk, proving they have the ability to mix it with the big names, or France at least.

The Belarusians can be backed at 9/2 to take a point back home with them and, given that they are yet to lose to the former World and European champions – ok, they’ve only played twice – there could be some value in this bet.

Didier Deschamps is still in the process of implementing his philosophies on the French squad and teething issues could arise.
His charges scraped through 1-0 against Finland in their first game and in-form midfield dynamo Abou Diaby, who netted the only goal of the game in Scandinavia, is ruled out on the all too familiar grounds of injury.

This, however, was slightly better than how Belarus fared in Georgia, where they came unstuck to a solitary Tornike Okriashvili strike.

With only one win in nine matches leading up to this game, it’s hard to envisage anything other than a home win at the Stade de France – a stringent 2/9 shot.

Belarus’ form was much improved in the build-up to their giant-killing feat of 2010 where they went unbeaten in four of the five preceding games, winning three.

For a repeat of both side’s opening World Cup qualifying games to occur here – a 1-0 France win – Ladbrokes are offering a price of 9/2.

Yet, it would be foolish to completely dispel the notion of lightning striking twice here as there can’t have been many who gave Belarus much hope on their last Parisian venture, and look what happened there.

All odds and markets correct as of the time of publication