Time to prepare

Now that club football has finished in all the main European competitions the national teams can get all their personnel together to get ready for the World Cup.

The French squad is assembling at the ski resort of Tignes in the French Alps tomorrow for a week of training before their first warmup game against Mexico on the 27th May at the Stade de France in Paris.

After that game the team will stay at the French football academy at Clairefontaine. They play a game against Denmark at Lens on May 31, then go back to Clairefontaine before their final friendly with China at Saint-Etienne on June 7.

The next day its time for the boys to head off to Germany and the Schlosshotel Munchhausen in the Wesermountains near Hamelin, south-west of Hannover, for some five star treatment before their opening game the following week.