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France Should Test Samuel Umtiti in Friendly vs. Scotland
- Updated: June 2, 2016
Hosts France got their European Championship final preparations off to a winning start on Monday with a narrow 3-2 victory over Cameroon at Stade de la Beaujoire in Nantes. Although a triumph, Les Bleus and coach Didier Deschamps were left with more questions than answers after the match.
The French took the lead through Paris Saint-Germain’s Blaise Matuidi after 20 minutes, only for FC Porto’s Vincent Aboubakar to equalise for the Africans two minutes later thanks to some sloppy defending.
Arsenal’s Olivier Giroud re-established the hosts’ lead just before half-time, and they led all the way up until the 88th minute, when Schalke 04’s Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting was allowed to level for Hugo Broos’ men for a second time after more naïve defending.
West Ham United’s Dimitri Payet curled in a sensational late winner with a free-kick, but his stunning strike did little more than paper over the cracks exposed at the back.
Speaking with journalists after the final whistle, Deschamps admitted that his side had been poor defensively but put that down to a lack of familiarity between Sevilla’s Adil Rami and Arsenal’s Laurent Koscielny.
Cameroon played in a new system with power and pace in midfield and up front. There are things we can improve defensively but this was our first match after a long period without competition for certain players. It was the first match that Adil Rami and Laurent Koscielny played together in a long time and we were up against a quality side. I wasn’t expecting a perfect performance. In terms of positives, we scored three goals and had a lot of chances. Technically we can improve but the frame of mind is there. To win a competition, your defence is very important but the main thing is to score one more goal than your opponents. I don’t want to stop the team from pushing up the pitch, even if that exposes the defence from time to time.
Deschamps was not wrong in his assertion that Rami and Koscielny looked every bit the unfamiliar central defensive pairing. To remedy that, the partnership will need extra matches.
However, France do not have multiple games to get ready before their Group A opener against Romania at Stade …
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