France 1-0 Peru
Les Bleus are through to the knockout stages of the World Cup!
While France definitely didn’t perform as well as Didier Deschamps and many football pundits would have liked, they still have made it through the group stages of the tournament after a 1-0 win against a Peru side that was arguably the better side when it came to the contents of the game.
However, France’s FIFA 2018 campaigned was guaranteed by a brilliant effort from Kylian Mbappe. The young PSG star was definitely making his presence known and was one of the few bright spots in what otherwise was a poor night for the French.
Now that they have assured their ticket to the knockout rounds, they can now let their foot off the gas a bit and experiment on potential lineups in their next game.
Highlights of the game
Pre-match FIFA 2018 odds predicted that France would completely overwhelm their opponents in this game, but the resident SBOBET football experts warned the public about the threat Los Incas would pose against the French. And that’s exactly what Ricardo Gareca’s men did for much of the 90 minutes against Les Bleus.
Peru played attacking football as they attempted to dismantle the French attack, living up to Gareca’s vow for Peru to play aggressive football against the French. Christian Cueva had an early crack at goal during the fourth minute of the game, but his long-range effort went slightly over the bar.
France fought back with their more direct passing routes and a prolific attacking pair in Olivier Giroud and Antoine Griezmann. The Atletico Madrid frontman had a chance in the 11th minute but kicked his effort wide of the right post.
The middle of the first half saw physical play being done by both countries as they tried to wrestle the game to their advantage. Pablo Guerrero and Blaise Matuidi got booked after committing rough fouls.
Guerrero almost had a shot at putting the Incas ahead in the 31st minute: he got a good pass within striking distance and fired a powerful shot to goal. However, the goal gave Hugo Lloris little to no problems.
Guerrero may rue his missed chance as the only goal of the game came three minutes after his miss. A great through pass saw Giroud with the ball with a lone defender and the keeper stopping him. He fired a shot that went off the leg of the Peru defender. While it looked like it was bound to go out of bounds, PSG’s Mbappe rushed to goal to poach the ball and score his first World Cup goal.
The first half ended in great favour to the French as they tried to double their advantage against the Peruvians. Lucas had an early shot from a laser pass at the 43rd minute. However, Pedro Gallese struts his stuff and denied the Atletico Madrid defender the chance to score.
The second half saw France turn to defence. Whether this was another of Deschamp’s weird managerial decisions, we will never know. However, there is no doubt that it gave Gareca’s men plenty of opportunities to attack and equalise the score.
Pedro Aquino had a rocket of a shot in the 50th minute, shooting from way outside the box with no defender to deflect the shot. France’s backline had to thank the back post for denying their opponents the opportunity to equalise. Luis Advincula’s 68th-minute effort also went over the bar.
There is little to no doubt that Peru had the much better half compared to their European counterparts. However, it cannot be denied that they weren’t able to finish their prolific attacks with an equaliser. The referee closed the match after four minutes of added time, ending Peru’s World Cup run.
Key statistics
Kylian Mbappe had a strong performance before being replaced by Ousmane Dembele in the 75th minute. He made up for his relatively quiet game during their opening game against Australia with concerted efforts in attack and defence. While he went quiet in the second half, it cannot be denied that his first-ever World Cup goal came at the perfect time.
The loss is a great heartbreak for Peru, a country that is one of the feel-good stories in the World Cup. Their World Cup win drought continues as they end their first World Cup since 1982 with another Group stage exit. The last time they won in the World Cup was in a 1978 first-round win against Iran against Iran.
What’s next?
Peru have nothing left to play for as the remaining FIFA 2018 results have little value to them. They will be hoping to end their World Cup run on a positive note against Australia. This match will also be hard for them as the Socceroos just drew against a strong Denmark side.
Meanwhile, France have enough leeway to somewhat experiment with the roster ahead of their game against the Danish Dynamites. However, Deschamps should know better than to underestimate Christian Eriksen.
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