France defenders have plan for Messi
Like any other team preparing to play Argentina, France faces the Lionel Messi question: How to stop the five-time world player of the year?
Unlike many of its rivals at the World Cup, though, France has an answer: a center-half pairing of Raphael Varane and Samuel Umtiti.
France, which plays Argentina for a spot in the quarterfinals today in Kazan, Russia, has been misfiring since the start of the tournament, scoring just three goals in its group matches. But the French defense, marshalled by the pair of Spanish league players, has been solid, having conceded just one goal.
Umtiti knows Messi extremely well because he trains with the Argentina great at Barcelona on a dayto-day basis. Varane, a regular starter for Real Madrid, has vast experience of playing against Messi.
“I see him every day. It is very hard to stop him,” Umtiti said. “He’s got outstanding qualities.”
Asked if these defenders’ knowledge would give France an edge against the two-time World Cup champions, France coach Didier Deschamps said it could be useful.
“Hopefully I can give you a positive answer after the game,” Deschamps said. “Knowing him from the Spanish league will not make the difference, but having played against him, similar situations could repeat themselves.”
After a difficult start to the tournament, Messi came to life during the 2-1 win over Nigeria in Argentina’s last group game, scoring an exquisite goal from a long pass over the defense. This goal aside, his teammates have been struggling to set him up properly.
“He is different with Argentina than with Barcelona,” Umtiti said. “He does not have the same players with him, and their way of playing is different but he has saved them on several occasions.”
Umtiti, who has 21 caps for France, will start in the heart of the French defense alongside Varane. Deschamps.
INJURIES HURT BRAZIL >> Brazil is going out of its way to defend its World Cup preparations and show its players’ injuries can’t be blamed on excessive training. Doctors will blame a soft mattress for an injury before admitting they made mistakes getting the players ready for the tournament in Russia.
Questions were raised after Renato Augusto, Danilo, Douglas Costa and Marcelo all got hit by injuries before and during the World Cup.
Augusto himself was the first to put the team’s preparations under the spotlight after he said an inflammation on his left knee was caused by the amount of training he was subjected to when he reported to the national team. The midfielder hinted he was not used to this type of training load with his team in China.
After Marcelo had to be replaced only 10 minutes into the match against Serbia , doctors were immediately questioned about the team’s training load, but team doctor Rodrigo Lasmar said Marcelo’s injury might have been caused by the type of mattress he was using at the team’s hotel, not because of too much training.
Team trainer Fabio Mahseredjian admitted the training load had to be adjusted in cases like Augusto’s, but defended the squad’s training regime. Although doctors said none of the injuries was serious, it wasn’t immediately clear which player would be available for Monday’s round-of-16 match against Mexico.
AUDIO ON REFS? >> FIFA says TV viewers could maybe listen in to World Cup referees’ deliberations live in the future. After screening clips of referees talking to the video assistant referees during World Cup group games, FIFA’s refereeing committee head Pierluigi Collina says “it’s something that could be interesting to be offered, because if you make known why now a decision was taken, maybe you can clarify and get this decision better accepted by the football community.” NICE GUYS FINISH FIRST UNDER REVIEW >> FIFA plans to review a rule that resulted in Senegal being eliminated from the World Cup because it had more yellow cards than Japan, but is unlikely to remove the measure.
“We will review after this World Cup, we will see what the feedback and the situation is,” FIFA’s competition director Colin Smith said Friday, “but as it currently stands we don’t see any need to change.”
The rule, in use for the first time at the World Cup, caused a stir when the last games in Group H were being played simultaneously and it became obvious it would be needed as a tiebreaker between two teams finishing equal in every other way.
Japan barely attacked in the end of its 1-0 loss to Poland preferring instead to take a safety first approach against a team that was already out of contention because it was due to qualify on its disciplinary record ahead of Senegal. At the time, Senegal was losing 1-0 to Colombia, which jumped from third spot to top of the group.
Previously the situation would have been resolved with the drawing of lots.