France's qualification path for Brazil 2014 tells you all you need to know about their chances at the World Cup. However, they are somehow always considered to be amongst the favourites, despite a pretty horrendous record of late. Despite them being runners-up in 2006 to Italy, the two tournaments either side of that have been nothing short of disastrous for the French. They failed to advance from their group in both 2002 - when they were defending champions - and 2010, when a disastrous campaign in South Africa saw them finish bottom of their group, losing to South Africa and Mexico. And in 2010, they were very lucky to even reach the finals, after Thierry Henry's controversial goal against the Republic of Ireland in the play-offs. Sure, they were in a qualifying group that featured Spain this time around, but they made hard work of getting to Brazil in the play-offs. They slumped to a 2-0 defeat against Ukraine in the first leg, before winning the second 3-0 to scrape through 3-2. That all suggests that, despite some excellent players in their squad, they really won't be in a position to make too many people shocked in Brazil.
