France vs. Russia: Winners and Losers from International Friendly
France and Russia provided an entertaining 90 minutes of football in Paris on Thursday night, with the home side running out eventual 4-2 winners.
The hosts were excellent in the first half and took a deserved lead early on through N'Golo Kante, with Andre-Pierre Gignac heading home a second before the break.
It seemed as though it would be a stroll to victory at that point, but the second 45 minutes were even more exciting as Russia finally awoke as an attacking entity. Aleksandr Kokorin pulled one back before Dimitri Payet smashed in a brilliant free-kick, with Yuri Zhirkov immediately reducing the arrears again. Kingsley Coman netted the final goal, rounding the goalkeeper to score from an angle after coming on as sub.
Here are all our winners and losers from the fixture.
Winner: N'Golo Kante
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Manager Didier Deschamps gave the birthday boy the opportunity to impact on his first start for France—and he didn't take long to show what he's capable of.
Kante won the ball in midfield, laid it off and continued a surging run upfield, all key traits which have marked his wonderful season with Leicester City, and he finished the move off in style by scoring from inside the box.
With Paul Pogba and Blaise Matuidi the guaranteed starters in the offensive, hard-working central midfield roles for France, Kante has done brilliantly to even be in the reckoning—this kind of performance could well guarantee him a place on the plane to the Euros and place Morgan Schneiderlin or Yohan Cabaye under real pressure.
Loser: Lucas Digne
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Lucas Digne seems to have ended up as third-choice left-back for France at the moment; Patrice Evra started, and Jeremy Mathieu came on at the break.
With Mathieu going off shortly afterward through injury, Digne had a chance to come on and make an impact, to show Deschamps perhaps that he should consider him more—but he made an awful start.
A late challenge conceded a free-kick. Then from the set piece, he lost his man, Kokorin, who powered in a header for 2-1. Another few fouls given away, little impact going forward and a generally untidy performance won't have boosted his chances much.
Winner: Antoine Griezmann
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If there's one thing France can boast, it's a surplus of forwards who can score goals and create from the wide areas—but Antoine Griezmann can pretty much think to himself that he'll be on the plane come summer.
The Atletico Madrid man was excellent for an hour, set up the first two goals with a fine reverse pass and a brilliant free-kick and showed all the pace and movement in the channels and through the centre, which makes him a big threat in La Liga.
Regardless of whether Karim Benzema is eventually involved or not, Griezmann's ability to play centre-forward or wide in a three makes him a great choice for the squad.
Loser: Yuri Lodygin
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Despite never reaching the heights that were expected of him pre-ACL injuries, Igor Akinfeev has never been really tested for any extended period of time in goal for Russia.
Current challenger Yuri Lodygin is a good example of why: The Zenit stopper played the second half and fumbled and bumbled his way through the game, showing no composure or dominance in goal and conceding two poor goals from his point of view, despite both being spectacular in nature.
Payet's 30-yard free-kick was well-struck but should have been dealt with all the same, while his decision to go walkabout and chase down Coman for the fourth was ill-advised. Lacking reflexes and dropping more than one cross in the rest of the game summed up his performance.
Winner: Didier Deschamps
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Does any manager have as big a selection of quality players to choose from heading into the Euros as Deschamps?
The French boss will be delighted with many of his regular starters being in good form for large spells of this game as well as for the season overall, but his sheer volume of players available to pick from means he can urge each of them to play better and better to win a place in the squad and, subsequently, the XI itself.
Attack is perhaps the area of greatest depth regardless of whether Benzema returns, but all over the field, there is competition. And the arrival on the scene of Kante and Payet adds more self-belief and physical prowess to the team too. Big decisions lie ahead, but it's far better to have the option of who to leave out rather than have to scrape together those who don't deserve a place.
