France 1-1 USA
We came to the Stade des Lumieres expecting a French feast of goals against the USA, but instead it took a late Kylian M’Bappe strike to snatch a draw.
FIFA 2018 has a lot to look forward to, and Didier Deschamp’s France will be one of the best entertainers. And we saw enough tonight to whet the appetite for sure; but after Julian Green gave the visitors an unlikely lead, for much of the second half it looked like France was heading to Russia on the back of an embarrassing defeat.
But come on, Les Bleus are genuine contenders for the World Cup 2018, and you’ll get a great range of handicap betting options from SBOBET throughout, for the French to win their group, or the whole tournament. After tonight that remains a distinct possibility.
Highlights
France came into this game on the back of an impressive 3-1 win over Italy and started with many of their expected team in Russia, so the Lyon crowd anticipated a chance to see plenty of goals. But USA interim boss Dave Sarachan had his side well set up to frustrate Les Bleus in the early stages, in the hope of keeping the crowd quiet and maybe hitting the hosts on the break.
Paul Pogba, whose Manchester United form has been inconsistent, could be a key player for France in Russia and he tested the US keeper as early as the fifth minute, firing a shot from distance towards the top corner. And minutes later Antoine Griezmann crossed for Olivier Giroud to put in a powerful header which was comfortably saved.
PSG’s Kylian M’Bappe’s reputation has grown massively this year and he’s expected to light up the World Cup. He looked lively tonight, seeing a shot charged down after taking a pass from Griezmann midway through the first half. Then Blaise Matuidi put Pogba in, but his shot was again saved. And then the influential Griezmann almost broke the deadlock on 38 minutes, striking the right hand post from outside the area.
Then, on the stroke of half time, came USA’s sucker punch. Julian Green found himself in enough space on the right hand side of the box to fire low into the corner. So far so good with Sarachen’s plan!
That goal prompted Deschamps to keep his stars on the pitch for the second half when the pattern continued, with Benjamin Mendy, Griezmann and Matuidi all shooting and missing in the opening five minutes.
Midway through the half Pogba tried his luck from distance and M’Bappe had another shot charged down and it started to look like USA’s night. But France finally broke through on 78 minutes, and it was that man M’Bappe who converted a cross from Benjamin Pavard to save Les Bleus’ blushes.
M’Bappe almost made it two from close range on 83 minutes but when he was substituted five minutes later that was that.
Key Statistics
The first 45 minutes went as well as the USA could have hoped for. They kept Les Bleus at bay and scored at the best possible time to change the half time team talks in both dressing rooms.
The first half was a classic mugging. With just 35 per cent of possession, the USA won the half with their first and only shot on 44 minutes. The second half was even more one sided, with the 90 minute stats giving France 70 per cent possession and 17 shot to two.
So that ends a run of three wins for France and the USA avoided back-to-back defeats. France remains unbeaten in meetings with the USA, but if they are to have any chance of winning the World Cup they need to put teams like this away.
What’s next?
Our World Cup 2018 Odds have France to win Group C comfortably and Les Bleus have a chance to gather some momentum as they begin their campaign against Australia. Then they take on Peru and, finally, their most dangerous rival Denmark, who has Spurs Christian Eriksen calling the tune and the exciting winger Pione Sisto alongside.
Denmark beat Mexico tonight and Eriksen was on target. But we have Les Bleus at 2.65 to win all their group games and they do have the talent to do just that. Whether they can turn performances into results every time is another question altogether!
Dave Sarachan may or may not be still in a job, but if he is he’ll spend the summer working out how he can continue to rebuild this team; so hopefully we can welcome the US back in 2022.
Disclaimer: Odds are correct at time of publish.
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