France vs. Ukraine Preview: Will Les Bleus Change Their Lineup Against Co-Hosts?

While he didn't enter play against England on Monday, France striker Olivier Giroud must have been rubbing his hands with glee as he sat in the locker room afterwards, watching co-hosts Ukraine take on Sweden in the other Group D match of the day.

France play Ukraine on Friday, and then face Sweden the following Tuesday. That is a certainty.

What might also be considered a safe bet is that France will score goals against both sides, given each team's considerable frailty in defense.

There were gaps aplenty in both team's defenses for strikers to exploit, seen most notably in the three goals (two off the head of born-again 35-year-old Andrey Shevhenko, and one stabbed effort by Zlatan Ibrahimovic) scored during the match in Kiev.

And there could have been more.

Ibrahimovic could have had at least one other goal when he shirked central defender Yevhen Khacheridi with consummate ease before heading across goal past a helpless Andriy Pyatov, only to see the ball hit the post before skipping harmlessly out of bounds.

That's the sort of opportunity Giroud relishes.

Giroud made a habit of drifting off defenders this past season for club side Montpellier before unleashing an uncanny predatory instinct to find the back of the net either by way of his head (he's 6'3") or his deadly left foot.

That killer combo led to a league-leading 21 goals in 2011-12, but Giroud is no one-trick pony.

He chipped in nine assists, and led the Montpellier attack with vigor on the way to a first-ever league title.

And this guy doesn't even start for the national team. Although he's made a considerable case for himself of late. In his last four appearances for the national side, Giroud's scored a goal and nabbed three assists. And that goal didn't come against a lightweight side; it was scored against Germany during a February friendly in Bremen.

But the lone striker position in Laurent Blanc's 4-2-3-1 formation falls to Karim Benzema, who enjoyed a ho-hum season of 32 goals and 15 assists for Real Madrid.

Although Benzema was somewhat subdued against England by his own lofty standards (France newspaper L'Equipe gave him a '4' for his match rating), given the Real Madrid striker's form in recent months, expect him to come back with a vengeance on Friday against the co-hosts.

He'll likely be joined in the attacking third by Samir Nasri and Franck Ribery, both of whom were excellent against England's staunch defense. Nasri's link-up play bordered on the mesmerizing at times against the Three Lions, so quick was his movement, so deft was his passing.

And then there was the simple matter of his equalizing goal!

Ribery's pace once more set him apart on the left wing, and his trickery and dribbling are enough to separate him from the world's best defenders, which Ukraine do not boast.

They'll see more of that from France and manager Laurent Blanc, who may be tempted to start Hatem ben Arfa on the right wing after seeing Florent Malouda's impact somewhat mitigated against England.

Malouda started as the "attacking midfielder" of France's 4-2-3-1 formation, but Samir Nasri occupied that role, with Malouda dropping to a deeper lying midfield position.

That left right-back Mathieu Debuchy as the only real threat down the right flank, give or take the odd Ribery foray into that area of the field.

Debuchy is adept at getting forward, but Blanc may want an out-and-out winger in that space so that Debuchy can hang back more often to cope with the full-frontal Ukrainian attack.

In central midfield, L'Equipe reported in their June 14 print edition that Blanc was debating inserting Yann M'Vila, recently returned from an ankle injury that kept him out of the England match, to the starting lineup.

That would likely come at the expense of Alou Diarra, who was excellent against the Three Lions aside from his errant marking on Joleon Lescott's headed goal.

Blanc was frustrated with how slowly France moved the ball from the midfield into the attack, and believes that M'Vila could help alleviate that problem.

He may also keep Diarra at the defensive midfield post, and insert M'Vila for Malouda, thus allowing the Rennes midfielder to play a bit higher up the pitch in what's become a sort of triangle for Les Bleus—Yohan Cabaye is the other central midfielder.

France will need an excellent showing from their attacking force, including better displays from Benzema in particular.

Because if the forward isn't at his best, Giroud will be waiting in the wings.