Euro 2012 favourites France thrash Estonia

Posted on June 7, 2012 by SoccerPunter

France thanked a brace from Real Madrid’s Karim Benzema on Monday as they thumped Estonia 4-0 in a friendly match before heading to Euro 2012 and face Group D rivals England.

Bayern Munich’s Franck Ribery set the ball rolling in the northern town of Le Mans with the opener on 24 minutes before Benzema made it 2-0 eight minutes before the break as the French found their form.

Benzema added another just two minutes after the restart before Paris Saint Germain forward Jeremy Menez made it four in stoppage time.

On the negative side for Laurent Blanc’s men a central defensive partnership of Philippe Mexes of AC Milan and Valencia’s Adil Rami had a few nervous moments but that failed to take the gloss off a morale-boosting win and, as a former stopper himself, Blanc should be capable of passing on some tips to his backline

Newcastle’s Yohan Cabaye was a driving force in midfield while Ribery bagged his third goal in as many outings after Benzema neatly set him up before bagging his own 14th and 15th goals for his country – the first a fine curling individual effort and the second laid on by Ribery.

Menez bundled in his late goal after coming on as substitute for Benzema along with Olivier Giroud, who replaced Florent Malouda.

France have now gone 21 games unbeaten and the memories of a disastrous 2010 World Cup are finally beginning to fade away.

They meet England next Monday as they open up their programme before further pool meetings with co-hosts Ukraine and Sweden.