France, the current world champions, will be looking to beat Denmark in group D this Saturday and qualify for the round of 16 of the World Cup in Qatar 2022, but Didier Deschamps, coach of the ‘bleus’, is well aware that the challenge is not. It was certainly easy even though his team made a big debut against Australia (4-1). Unsurprisingly, Denmark beat France twice in the recent Nations League.
So, the Danes beat France 1-2 in June in that tournament and 2-0 in September.
“We learned from those lessons, but surely Denmark also took note,” said Hugo Lloris, goalkeeper and captain of France, yesterday in a press conference. “The World Cup is a different competition, but the Nations League gives you an idea of the level of this Danish team, it is a good team and capable of beating the best. So it has been a wake-up call for us and we cannot say that we do not know them”, added Lloris.
France’s 4-1 against Australia did not dispel all doubts about the current world champion’s moment. For this reason, today’s match against Denmark will be a great test for the defenders of the title achieved in Russia 2018.
The ‘bleu’ fans are waiting for another victory for their team to secure their place in the round of 16 and confirm their candidacy to defend the world title with capital letters. To do so, Didier Deschamps’ men will have to turn the page after their two defeats against Denmark and find a way to beat it. The Danes started the tournament with a 0-0 loss against Tunisia.
Denmark is bidding to become the first team to beat France three times in a calendar year. Didier Deschamps knows he can’t trust himself against Kasper Hjulmand’s men, he’s undoubtedly experienced this in the Nations League and on two occasions.
“Denmark is an underrated team. We are only talking about four months, we are not talking about a long time, it was between June and September where they beat us twice”, the words of Deschamps, who dreams of taking his ‘bleus’ to the final on December 18.
Deschamps, about Varane
Deschamps did not want to confirm Varane’s presence yesterday, but all indications are that the Manchester United defender will play against Denmark.
He also pointed out that Ousmane Dembélé, Antoine Griezmann and Kylian Mbappé will play in a line of three, with Olivier Giroud as the most advanced man to worry Kasper Schmeichel, Denmark’s goalkeeper. Adrien Rabiot and Aurélien Tchouaméni seem to have secured their place in the half gala and will not miss this first big test for the world champion
Source: La Verdad
I’m Rose Herman and I work as an author for Today Times Live. My expertise lies in writing about sports, a passion of mine that has been with me since childhood. As part of my job, I provide comprehensive coverage on everything from football to tennis to golf.
