Griezmann leads French comeback over Germany
Dier: England must always take fight to opposition
PARIS (Reuters) – World champions France fought back from a goal down to edge Germany 2-1 with a double from Antoine Griezmann in their Nations Cup match at the Stade de France on Tuesday.
The 27-year-old forward canceled out Toni Kroos’s first half penalty with a fine header just past the hour and then scored with a spot-kick himself late in the game to kill off the visitors’ hopes of reaching the semi-finals.
The French found themselves on the backfoot in the first half but did not lose confidence even when the Germans came close to a second goal.
“This is the difference between a team with a lot of confidence and a team like Germany which lacks some confidence and is maybe not as efficient,” France coach Didier Deschamps told reporters.
“There is nothing better for my team, my players, than this. The best vitamin is victory and tonight we had a difficult game and won against a difficult team.”
France tops the League A Group 1 standings with seven points from three games above the Netherlands on three from two and Germany with one.
The Germans, with five changes to the team that lost 3-0 away to the Netherlands on Saturday, had their share of chances and overall looked sharper despite their sixth defeat of 2018.
After crashing out at the group stage in the World Cup in Russia, Germany, world champions in 2014, are still looking for their first victory in UEFA’s the Nations League competition.
Also, Eric Dier believes England should maintain their combative approach as they progress under manager Gareth Southgate after the side “laid down a marker” with an impressive victory over Spain in the UEFA Nations League this week.
England stunned their hosts 3-2 in Seville on Monday after Dier had set the tone for a brilliant first half performance from the visitors with some feisty challenges on Sergio Busquets and Sergio Ramos in the opening 15 minutes.
Dier was shown a yellow card for his lunging tackle on Spain captain Ramos but the Tottenham midfielder said it was important to ensure Spain were knocked out of their rhythm early on.
“Once we start the game, it’s every man for himself and we have to put our foot down, put a marker down,” Dier told British media. “We have to be aggressive, be on the front foot and show that nothing is going to intimidate us.”