In a friendly match, the French national team played Colombia at the Northwest Stadium this Sunday and secured a 3-1 victory with a heavily rotated squad. Five Paris Saint-Germain players, all French, featured in the match: Lucas Chevalier, Lucas Hernandez, Warren Zaïre-Emery, Désiré Doué, and Ousmane Dembélé. Here are the French players’ ratings from the press.
Le Parisien:
Thuram (7)
Doué (7) – Cherki (6,5) – Akliouche (7)
Kanté (7,5) – Zaïre-Emery (6)
Digne (5) – L. Hernandez (6) – Lacroix (7) – Kalulu (5)
Samba (6)
L’Equipe:
Thuram (8)
Doué (7) – Cherki (7) – Akliouche (7)
Kanté (6) – Zaïre-Emery (5)
Digne (5) – L. Hernandez (6) – Lacroix (8) – Kalulu (6)
Samba (6)
With a completely revamped team compared to the 2-1 victory against Brazil on Thursday, France played some attractive football and secured a well-deserved win against a team that must be taken seriously for the World Cup. Even though it was only a friendly, Les Bleus confirmed that they have an important role to play in this competition. In particular, because Didier Deschamps can field two completely different lineups while maintaining a very high level of performance. Few national teams have such a deep squad.
There are some promising young players, including Doué, who has what it takes to fight for a starting place and showed it with his brace. The competition is particularly fierce, which is great for Les Bleus. They will need to maintain the right mentality throughout the tournament to avoid any pitfalls. Zaïre-Emery and Hernandez also impressed, even if it will be difficult for them to be more than substitutes.
