Portugal vs. France, International Friendly: Team News, Preview, Stream, TV Info
The first international break of the 2015/16 season is already upon us, and while many of Europe's nations are preparing for qualifying matches for Euro 2016, hosts France face a friendly fixture in Portugal on Friday.
After a tricky start to their qualifying campaign, Portugal are now top of Group I and in with a great chance of automatic qualification for the tournament next summer, even though they still have work to do. They face Albania, who could be top by then—in Portugal's place—on Monday.
France, meanwhile, have struggled in friendly fixtures in terms of results as Didier Deschamps looks to fine-tune his style and squad ahead of the tournament on home soil. They have won five of their 10 non-competitive games since the end of the 2014 World Cup, losing three of the last four to Brazil, Belgium and Albania.
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Date: Friday, September 4
Time: 5:45 p.m. BST (12:45 p.m. ET)
Venue: Estadio Jose Alvalade, Lisbon
TV Info: TF1 (France), Fox Deportes, ESPN2 (both USA)
Live Stream: Fox Soccer 2Go (USA)
The Teams
Portugal are building steady up to qualifying for another tournament, now under Fernando Santos. What can they achieve once there, though? They frequently flatter to deceive as one of the European stage's major players, but Santos clearly thinks this time they can be the real deal, according to Record (via Portugoal.net):
"I set the target of winning the European Championship and to make it possible we have to create a team that can arrive in France in 2016 with all its processes working perfectly. To do so we have to get there in good shape, and above all as a great team. Both Euro 2012 and last year’s World Cup clearly showed this: the side that was more of a team ended up winning the tournament.
"
To that end, Santos has been at pains to ignore or refute any claims that his side are dependent on one of the world's best players, Cristiano Ronaldo. Sure, he's a major part of the team and rightly so, but Santos wants it known that the No. 7 simply adds to the overall level of the national side rather than totally representing what it is about.
He spoke on the issue, via FourFourTwo, after the 1-0 win over Italy in June—which Eder scored the winner in. "What we showed today is that we are a team. Ronaldo himself mentioned it in the previous game, even a after scoring three goals. And that today has again proved."
Regardless, Portugal need Ronaldo to be firing on all cylinders if they are to have a chance of success at the Euros.
As for France, they initially impressed at last summer's World Cup—but since going out to eventual winners Germany, they have struggled to find any consistency with their form under Deschamps. June's pair of friendly games saw them lose 4-3 to Belgium and 1-0 to Albania, leaving the manager extremely unimpressed, according to FourFourTwo:
"With Belgium we had an opponent that was superior and played a great game. [Against Albania] there was an opponent with more determination. I am particularly annoyed and disappointed because I'm responsible. I choose the players, the systems. I'll take time to analyse but it is not a period that is very favourable to us.
We did not have enough hunger, this is not acceptable and I cannot accept it. I do not judge the players but we were not mentally ready to play a high level game. I will not castigate one, this one or that one. I will analyse in retrospect, but they have five, 10, 30 minutes or an entire game, all players must be as efficient as possible and that was not the case.
"
The former national-team midfielder has altered his side in recent fixtures, particularly the midfield shape, but the call-ups to the latest squad seem to indicate a return to a more solid midfield base. Deschamps has spoken of the need to "resume the journey" for a successful tournament on home soil and "regain our momentum, will and aggression," as reported by FourFourTwo.
It's a tough balancing act for all national-team managers who have no competitive action to manage in; where do results matter? Qualification is assured, but rarely do teams on a poor run of form simply prove capable of picking up their game once the real action starts.
Competition for places is one way to ensure established names perform to their normal level every time, and perhaps the reshuffled French squad is an indication of that.
Team News
Both nations' squad selections show significant changes and omissions for different reasons.
Portugal are without the injured Joao Moutinho, while midfielders William Carvalho, Tiago Mendes and Raul Meireles have all been left out as Fernando Santos oversees the changing of the guard in the lineup. In attack, there are plenty of wide options as usual—Ricardo Quaresma and Silvestre Varela are involved again—but Eder remains the only natural centre-forward.
Other established names including Fabio Coentrao, Hugo Almeida and goalkeeper Eduardo are also left out of this squad, while 21-year-olds Bernardo Silva and Raphael Guerreiro are involved.
France have opted to leave out regular first-choice centre-back Mamadou Sakho, who has yet to feature for his club this season, with Dimitri Payet, Alexandre Lacazette and Maxime Gonalons also not involved.
Most of the squad who are called up are experienced and established at international level, but a couple of notable names have been included. Kurt Zouma is in as the fourth-choice centre-back, Geoffrey Kondogbia is included as one of the midfield options and, most pertinently, perhaps, Anthony Martial is included as a forward.
The 19-year-old is uncapped at senior level and hoping to make his debut this week, having just sealed a move to Manchester United that could be worth up to €80 million.
Possible Starting Lineups
Portugal (4-3-3): Rui Patricio; Vieirinha, Jose Fonte, Bruno Alves, Eliseu; Danilo Pereira, Danny, Adrien Silva; Nani, Eder, Cristiano Ronaldo.
France (4-3-3): Hugo Lloris; Bacary Sagna, Raphael Varane, Laurent Koscielny, Benoit Tremoulinas; Morgan Schneiderlin, Paul Pogba, Blaise Matuidi; Nabil Fekir, Karim Benzema, Antoine Griezmann.
Players to Watch
Portugal: Cristiano Ronaldo
Who else? One of the world's best, Cristiano Ronaldo has unbelievable consistency in his game and can trouble the planet's finest defences with his pace, power and relentless eye for goal. With 55 goals in 120 caps, Ronaldo is Portugal's biggest offensive threat by far, their captain and the man who demands the highest standards from his team mates.
Now regularly playing as their centre-forward, he'll stretch France's back line and look to exploit any counter-attacking opportunities.
If he's on his game, it almost doesn't matter who he's up against—he can get the better of anybody. Don't let his goalless start to the season fool you—the opening Liga match saw him come up against a goalkeeper who was at an unusually high level, while the second match simply saw the best chances fall the way of his team-mates.
France: Antoine Griezmann
Atletico Madrid forward Antoine Griezmann has started the domestic season in great form, scoring and assisting in his opening two Liga games.
He's a big threat for France, too, scoring at almost one-in-three in his senior career so far and certainly capable of bettering that as time goes on. Playing from the flanks, he's a good link player, aids the counter-attacking transition of the team with his pace and also attacks the penalty box extremely well when play builds up down the opposite channel.
Griezmann has more to give this France team, though, especially once they sort out a re-shaped midfield. He could be pivotal to their Euro 2016 hopes.
Prediction: Portugal 2-1 France
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