Oxford United defender Christophe Remy is tipping his native France to win the World Cup - and believes Holland are well capable of suprising Brazil in tonight's first semi-final.

Remy, who had a ticket for this Sunday's World Cup final in Paris but had to sell it to a friend because it clashed with United's pre-season training, feels France have done the hard part by overcoming Italy in the quarters.

He said: "The French players do believe they can win it. Croatia are not as tough as Germany would have been but they have so many skilful players all over Europe and they should not be under-estimated. They will be tricky to beat.

"I think that if we can reach the final it will be easier because then the whole country will be behind us. Looking at the teams left in, Brazil have fantastically skilful players but they are a bit soft at the back, I believe."

Remy added: "The tournament was a bit slow to take off with a lot of people back home but now even girls who are not really into football are tending to listen out for the results and watch how the team are doing.

"If we can win the World Cup it will give French football a big boost and increase attendances in the stadiums. We are a bit behind the English Premier League in that sense but this will be a chance for us to catch up."

The French team have been written off because they don't possess a natural goalscorer but Remy defends them by saying: "The difference with us is that we have so many players who can score, so many midfielders. We maybe don't have a natural scorer in the side like Michael Owen but we're not relying on just one or two for our goals. "I was a bit disappointed with Alan Shearer for England because he seemed tired at the end and he can do much more than he showed.

"But England were unlucky. Penalty shoot-outs are a lottery and the way they went out was harsh. We were fortunate to come through ours against Italy."

The former Auxerre player, who played alongside Zinedine Zidane in the France Under 21 squad, said: "I wasn't too confident that France would get to the final or win it before we faced Italy but once we passed that test that all changed.

"I know Zinedine very well, he's a really nice guy and very humble. We missed him against Paraguay who made it very difficult for us."

Remy is now looking to stake his own claim for a starting place in Oxford United's team for next season after missing much of the last campaign through injury.

He appears to have a battle on his hand with newly-appointed club skipper Les Robinson last season's first choice at right back. But manager Malcolm Shotton has told all of his players they are starting from scratch.

"Everybody is dead level on the starting gate, as I've told them," he stated. "I'll go by what I see in training and in our pre-season friendly games and every place is up for grabs."

Remy responded: "I'm pleased he is treating it like a meritocracy. Some managers have their own group of favourites but if you know that he's not working like that it gives you a boost."

And what was the French verdict on the Army assault course?

"It's not what you would have got at a French club pre-season! They tend to be more analytical in training and around a running track. But it was really useful in terms of enhancing team spirit. It was more like a social event for the group and on the whole we all enjoyed it."

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