The Scotsman

Deschamps aware that Uruguay represents a different animal

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FRANCE

Griezmann 13 pen, Pavard 57, Mbappe 64, 68

ARGENTINA

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Dimaria41,mercado48,aguero90 Forget champagne football. While the French scored four goals against Argentina in a thriller on Saturday to reach the World Cup quarter-finals, coach Didier Deschamps is expecting a much tighter game against Uruguay.

The 1998 champions are into the quarter-finals for the seventh time, and coming off a 4-3 win over Lionel Messi’s Argentina in an enthrallin­g contest at Kazan Arena in which they dominated throughout and exposed Argentina’s defensive flaws.

After three unimpressi­ve matches in the group stage, France finally made the most of their immense attacking potential and 19-year-old Kylian Mbappe became the first teenager to score more than once in a World Cup match since Pele’s double in the 1958 final.

But Uruguay, who have conceded just one goal so far and beat European champions Portugal at the weekend, have a much better defensive line marshalled by the experience­d Diego Godin. And so Deschamps knows there’ll be fewer opportunit­ies on Friday in Nizhny Novgorod.

“Uruguay is a South American team very difficult to play,” Deschamps said yesterday. “Uruguay is maybe close to Peru, it’s solid and aggressive. These are not qualities displayed by Argentina. A difficult match is expecting us.”

The speedy Mbappe, pictured, was key as France opened the scoring, bursting through the Argentina defence and being hauled down in the box by Marcos Rojo. Antione Griezmann converted the resultant penalty.

Argentina responded well, Angel Di Maria scoring a screamer of an equaliser and Gabriel Mercado deflecting home a Messi shot for a 2-1 lead. But Benjamin Pavard’s stunning strike levelled the scores and then Mbappe took over. The teenager scored two goals in a five-minute burst to put the game beyond doubt and Sergio Aguero’s late header was too little too late for the Argentines.

Deschamps, a member of the France squad that won the 1998 World Cup, tried to keep his feet firmly on the ground. “Let’s try not to get carried away,” he said. “My players have ambition, me too, but it will be a difficult match [against Uruguay].” The disappoint­ment for Argentina was clear. Javier Mascherano, the 34-year-old with 147 caps, announced his internatio­nal retirement – “it’s time to say goodbye” – and it’s still unclear if Messi will follow suit.

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