(Photo: Reuters/Tony Gentile)Italy's national soccer players Gianluigi Buffon (R) and Mario Balotelli talk during a training session in Coverciano, near Florence, May 30, 2012.Italy vs France takes place on Wednesday in an exciting clash between two of the top teams in Europe. The match is scheduled to kick off at 2.50 p.m. ET and can be watched online through free live stream (details below).
This should be an exciting encounter, and despite this being just an international friendly both of these two teams are fiercely competitive and both will not be willing to just lay down and let the other walk all over them.
Cesare Prandelli has a policy of not picking players who are currenly suspecnded domestically for their clubs, and that policy will see midfielder Daniele De Rossi dropped for today's match up. The Roman skipper was sent off for throwing a punch at Lazio's Stefano Mauri in Sunday's high tempered Rome derby, and will not play against France.
Another player who has in the past been victim to that policy is the hot tempered Manchester City striker Mario Balotelli. He has struggled a little domestically this season but is likely to feature in today's game against the French.
Italy come into this game on the back of a very confident win against Denmark in their World Cup qualifying group last month. They defeated Denmark 3-1 and have thus far had a successful World Cup Qualifying campaign.
France have been a side plagued with troubles over recent seasons, and have had a number of player troubles.
However, new manager Didier Deschamps has made a positive start since taking charge of the team following Laurent Blanc's departure. Blanc left after France's Euro 2012 campaign ultimately ended in failure.
Since Deschamps has taken over he has led the French to good wins over both Finland and Belarus. France also managed to claim a confidence boosting draw against European and World Cup champions Spain last month. They claimed that result thanks to a late Olivier Giroud equalizer to draw things level.
Italy vs France kicks off at 2.50 p.m. ET and can be watched online through live stream by clicking here.
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