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France and Iceland face off for potential group decider
The Women's World Cup qualifier between France and Iceland, to be played this Saturday, may well shape the way Group 1 of the European zone looks until the end of the campaign.
Although only a few games have been played in the European qualifiers, it is clear that France and Iceland are the main contenders in this group.
The French started convincingly with a 0-7 victory in and against Croatia, which should allow them to recover from the slightly disappointing UEFA Euro 2009 campaign, where France lost to the Netherlands in the quarter finals.
The French squad is relatively young as only five players have an age of 26 or above. Team veteran is without a doubt Sandrine Soubeyrand, who despite her 36 years begins yet another qualification cycle for her country.
Iceland beat Serbia 5-0 in their opening qualifier, and went on to trash Estonia 12-0 last month. The Icelandic ladies aim to once again prove themselves as one of Europe's powers. Things didn't quite go so well at this summer's European championships though, as the group games with France, Norway and Germany were all lost.
The match with France was also the last time the two met, but there have been several other meetings in recent years. The nations shared groups in both of the last two qualifying campaigns for European championships, with France winning three times and Iceland once.
The match between France and Iceland will be played at Lyon's Stade de Gerland and starts at 16:30 local time.
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