A draw with weak Iceland counts as a loss. Is France s lethargy due to Deschamps strategy?

Sports Weekly All-Media Reporter Wang Qinbo

Deschamps led a makeshift "French Three Team" striker and tied with Iceland 2-2 in an away game in the world preliminaries. This draw means that France only needs to score 1 point against Ukraine on November 13 to basically lock in the qualification for the 2026 World Cup. However, French public opinion was not satisfied with the draw, especially the players' attitude on the court.

In fact, Deschamps will not be too demanding on the international players. This has long been the tone. After two Paris internationals were injured in September, Deschamps was very cautious in employing players and rotated them as much as possible. Once an injury occurred, even if it was not serious, he would quickly let the players return to the club. This may be the most important reason why the French team performed poorly in the away game in Iceland. The players did not work too hard. Being able to go home safely without injury or illness is the best result.

Deschamps sent a striker that has never been used before, consisting of Matta, Olise, Nkunku and Thauwan. Of these four, only Olise can guarantee to participate in the World Cup next year, and the rest are subjects for inspection. "Le Parisien" commented that the entire team was lethargic, especially Olise.

In fact, in the post-match scoring of "L'Equipe", the French team's forward score is still the highest, with Nkunku 6 points, Mateta and Olise 5 points, and only Thauvin has 4 points. Christopher Nkunku decided to try hard when his team was 1-0 down and equalized the score with his personal action. Afterwards, it was the first assist from the young player Akliusz who came on the bench, helping Mateta score the first goal for the national team.

France once reversed the lead, but was quickly tied. The one that received the most criticism was the defense. "L'Equipe" gave all three defenders Upamecano, Saliba and Conde 3 points. Only left back Digne, who was active in assists, scored 6 points. That said, the department that's really lethargic is France's backline. Especially when Iceland scored 1-0 in the first half, a foul by Saliba allowed the Icelanders to get a free kick. But the problem with free kick defense was not Saliba, but Camavinga, Upamecano, Mateta and others who all reacted too slowly in the small penalty area and were eventually stabbed successfully by the opponent's chaos.

After the 2-1 reversal, the French team was counterattacked again, and the defender's pursuit speed was obviously not as fast as usual. 2 to 2, Iceland can get 1 point from France and can celebrate it as a victory.

In France, "L'Equipe" commentator Etienne Murthy said: "I have felt it for a long time. Does this draw feel like a defeat? The answer is obvious, yes, absolutely. What went wrong? In fact, this draw has no highlights at all. If you look at the statistics of the game first, it is incredible and annoying. The Iceland team only passed the halfway line two or three times, hardly created any chances, but scored two goals. Such as If that's not a disaster, what is? We almost kept the ball. This Icelandic team was, frankly, too weak. They conceded five goals against Ukraine, and their performance was completely disastrous. I don't know how the French team could concede more than two goals."

Deschamps may not be angry about such a draw, after all, the initiative to qualify is still firmly in France's hands. But in the next month, Deschamps will be very worried about the next roster. For example, if Dembélé, Douai, Barcola and others have returned by then, can Deschamps successfully recruit them?

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