Uruguay will fancy their chances when they meet former world champions France at Cape Town’s Green Point Stadium in the second match of the World Cup.
On paper the 1998 winners are a formidable force, with an array of stars that includes Franck Ribéry (Bayern Munich), Nicolas Anelka, Florent Malouda (both Chelsea), Barcelona’s Thierry Henry and Patrice Evra of Manchester United.
Sadly, since their fairy-tale campaign in Germany in 2006, which ended in an agonising penalty shootout loss to Italy, Les Bleus have been terrible.
Euro 2008 marked one of the lowest moments in French football. They were knocked out in the group stages, triggering furious protests from the home fans directed at head coach Raymond Domenech.
The French are also viewed suspiciously after booking their ticket to South Africa via a controversial Henry hand-assisted goal against Ireland.
Surprisingly, the unpopular Domenech is still in charge.
However, the French Football Federation will replace him with Laurent Blanc immediately after the World Cup, no matter what happens in South Africa.
In his last hurrah Domenech is desperate to at least leave the national team with its image intact.
He is keen to use the big stage to show the world that his team are no cheats — a difficult task given that Uruguay, the inaugural winners of the first World Cup in 1930, feel they are playing their best football in a long time.
“We will arrive at the game with France in our best form. We have done everything possible to arrive at this game in the best possible condition,” Uruguay captain Diego Lugano told Fifa.com this week.
The South Americans have one of the best forward pairings in the game in Diego Forlan and Luis Suárez, while 21-year-old Nicolas Lodeiro is a marvel in the midfield. They demonstrated their dazzling best when they thumped Switzerland 3-1 and Israel 4-1 in their final preparation matches.
In contrast, France have struggled through their build-up matches. They lost 1-0 to China last week, following on their 1-1 draw against Tunisia and narrowly edging Costa Rica 2-1 from a goal down.
However, Aimé Jacquet, who led France to their only World Cup title in 1998, believes that the difficulties his country has experienced on their journey to South Africa will work to their advantage.
“I would say it is a very good thing. Today players should be angry because of losing the third game, against China. I tell you that against Uruguay their concentration will be twice as strong,” he told L’Equipe.
Either way, Group A appears set to start the World Cup with a bang.