FIFA GAME PICKS: FRANCE V SWITZERLAND BETTING PREVIEW

France and Switzerland get their respective campaigns underway when clashing swords in front of 53,000 fans inside Stuttgart’s Gottlieb-Daimler-Stadion on Tuesday 13th June and this match will be a close run thing - certainly a lot closer than the bookies seem to be predicting.

The French team that carried all before them winning the penultimate World Cup and European Championships were menacing. But if they were panthers then, they're more like pussycats by comparison now. Don't get me wrong, they are still a class act on their day.

But with many of their leading lights now reaching the latter stages of their careers, Les Bleus have been struggling for consistency, and that vital edge, subsequent to capturing the two biggest prizes on the International stage in 1998 and 2000 respectively.

Four of France's seven midfielders within their squad are aged thirty or over, with the wizard-like Zinedine Zidane the most senior of the quartet in question, set to turn thirty four on June 23. Furthermore, with the obvious exception of Thierry Henry, their strikers are hardly world beaters. They're good, but not world beaters.

Lyon forward Sidney Govou has been drafted into the squad after Djibril Cisse was ruled out of the tournament through injury. The remaining strikers are: Louis Saha, David Trezeguet and Sylvain Wiltord.

Trezeguet is without a doubt a hugely talented player. However, despite scoring thirty two goals in sixty three appearances for his country and establishing himself as one of the best finishers in Serie A since joining Juventus in 2000, he has failed to impress for his country at major tournaments thus far.

Perhaps his failure to really shine for France can, to some extent, be attributed to the fact that he and Henry don't seem to compliment each other when paired up front. This must be frustrating for coach Raymond Domenech as Henry and Trezegeut are clearly his best two strikers.

Bookmakers have France generally at 4/6 in the match result betting for this fixture, while the Swiss are a top-priced 11/2. This is bizarre, since the last two times these nations have clashed, both ended all square. And, from thirty five meetings in history, France have won fifteen times, eight games ended as a draw, and Switzerland have emerged victorious on twelve occasions. In contrast to the ageing French side, Swiss head coach Jakob ‘Kobi’ Kuhn has assembled a squad rich in youthful talent.

With an average player age of twenty five years and four months, Switzerland are the second youngest team in the finals behind Ghana. That said, Kuhn's charges also possess some experienced campaigners such as goalkeeper Pascal Zuberbuhler, midfielder Raphael Wicky and captain Johann Vogel able to lend support to some rising stars, including Arsenal defender Philippe Senderos, Bayer Leverkusen's Barnetta and Alexander Frei, a striker of massive potential.