France vs Colombia PREVIEW & PREDICTION 23/03/2018

FRANCE VS COLOMBIA PREVIEW & PREDICTION

In about three months, the time will come, because then the World Cup will break loose in Russia. The practice match between France and Colombia at the Stade de France in Paris is already a nice warm-up of what we will soon see. Both countries want to work confidently towards the final tournament.

France:

France placed itself in a pool with the Netherlands as expected as a group winner directly for the World Cup, but the team of national coach Didier Deschamps knew with a defeat against Sweden and a draw against football Luxembourg certainly no flawless qualification. Nevertheless, Les Bleus is one of the favorites for World Cup winnings in the coming summer. That is absolutely right, because with players like Hugo Lloris, Samuel Umtiti, N’Golo Kante, Paul Pogba, Kylian Mbappe and Antoine Griezmann, the French have all kinds of world leaders in all lines.

Deschamps has the task of forging a close team of all these individual stars. However, that is easier said than done. Especially in an offensive sense, France often struggles to really make a fist. In group Q of the European World Cup qualifying, the country scored only eighteen times in ten matches – a lot less than group members in the Netherlands (21 goals) and Sweden (26 goals). The presence of the many vedettes is therefore no guarantee for goals. In the last exhibition game, Alexandre Lacazette helped his country with two goals to visit Germany in a 2-2 draw, but the Arsenal striker is currently in the rag basket. Oliver Giroud will most likely be at the point of attack on Friday evening, with Griezmann and Mbappe on the flanks. A vanguard to lick your fingers at, but does it also yield goals?

Lloris – Digne, Umtiti, Varane, Sidibe – Matuidi, Kante, Pogba – Griezmann, Giroud, Mbappe

Colombia:

Colombia is also back in the summer, but the South Americans did not have a convincing World Cup qualification. Los Cafeteros did not win any victory in their last four matches in the South American World Cup qualifying, but thanks to their fourth place they were able to claim the last ticket for direct qualification. So, national coach Jose Pekerman was able to breathe a sigh of relief, but he also knows that it will definitely have to improve in Russia.

Like France, Colombia also has great difficulties with scoring. In eighteen World Cup qualifiers, the yellow shirts accounted for only 21 goals, or on average only 1.17 goals per game. Fortunately for the Colombians, Radamel Falcao is in top form with no less than twenty goals in his last 27 official matches on behalf of his club AS Monaco. Together with playmaker James Rodriguez he has to pull the Colombian cart at the World Championships. In the midfield, however, the South Americans are pretty battered on Friday-evening. Juan Cuadrado is injured, while Edwin Cardona is still suspended because of his slit gesture in the game against China. Both are normally guaranteed a basic place and will therefore be missed.

Ospina – Fabra, Davinson Sanchez, Zapata, Arias – Aguilar, Carlos Sanchez, Uribe – James Rodriguez, Falcao, Muriel


PREDICTION: Both teams to score / NO @ 1.79

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