Shaken France tread a fine line
While France’s 1-0 loss to Tunisia after fielding a reserve team should have no bearing on the defending champions’ future at the World Cup, their final Group D game on Wednesday showed they are walking on a tightrope.
Les Bleus, who face Poland in the last 16 on Sunday, underperformed at the Education City stadium. Only after Ousmane Dembele, Kylian Mbappe and Antoine Griezmann came off the bench did they pose any threat.
Griezmann even scored what he thought was an equaliser eight minutes into stoppage time, only for referee Matthew Cogan to rule the goal out for offside after a VAR review.
Until then, with coach Didier Deschamps having made nine changes to the team who secured their spot in the knockout phase with a 2-1 win against Denmark, France looked clueless and were overwhelmed in the midfield.
Matteo Guendouzi and Youssouf Fofana appeared well below international level and Jordan Veretout’s performance was also disappointing, raising concern that Deschamps has no backups if Aurelien Tchouameni or Adrien Rabiot were to get injured or face a suspension.
Up front, Randal Kolo Muani had only one chance — though in his defence, it was the only good ball he was provided with — while Kingsley Coman, at some point in competition with Dembele for a spot in the starting XI, had no impact.
“I know I haven’t put them in the best conditions with all these changes because they don’t have a collective experience,” Deschamps said.
He will also have sleepless nights to figure out what he will do if Theo Hernandez, his only proper left-back, or Jules Kounde, already a second-choice right-back, have to miss a game.
With Lucas Hernandez ruled out of the tournament with an injury sustained in the opening game, midfielder Eduardo Camavinga struggled at leftback, while Benjamin Pavard, who could have been given a second chance on Wednesday after his poor performance against Australia, stayed on the bench because he was “not in the right frame of mind”, according to Deschamps.
In central defence, Raphael Varane, with midfielder Aurelien Tchouameni the only player to start both the Denmark and Tunisia games, looked out of sync, while Ibrahima Konate, who deputised for the then injured Manchester United player in the opening game, was the only one giving Deschamps some satisfaction.