Didier Deschamps warns France “must not underestimate the Iraqi team”
· Yahoo Sports
French manager Didier Deschamps has demanded humility from his team as the joint-favourites gear up to face Iraq in their second World Cup match in Group I.
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Following a slow and somewhat laboured start to their first 45 minutes of this year’s tournament, Les Bleus exploded into life and gave the world a glimpse into their sheer firepower and depth.
Two goals from talisman Kylian Mbappé either side of a Bradley Barcola strike made the difference as France put the African Cup of Nations runners-up to the sword in the blistering New Jersey heat.
However, manager Deschamps is not getting carried away and insists that every game will prove a challenge for his side.
“We must not underestimate the Iraqi team, they are not a small team,” he said.
“They have qualities and have shown them in matches against Spain and Bolivia. We may make some changes, but our goal will remain to achieve victory. The match against Iraq will not be an easy one… we must not think it will be easy.”
Iraq performed well in the first half against Norway and would have thought themselves unlucky to not get more than the one goal curtesy of Aymen Hussein but were eventually undone by individual errors and Norway’s supreme attack.
There was much to admire about Iraq, despite the unflattering 4-1 score line.
Deschamps has clearly done his homework from both this game and the Middle-Easterners warm-up games, and outlined just what makes the Iraqi team so dangerous.
“Iraq is a team accustomed to playing in a 4-4-2 formation, and they have very strong forwards in the front line,” he said.
“The players know what they need to do on the field, and there is harmony and clear technical relationships among them, even with the changes in the line-up from one match to another.”
Graham Arnold has certainly established a belief and teamwork throughout that squad, which makes them such tricky customers especially with the ever clinical Hussein leading the line.
Leading the line for France is a much more contentious issue. With such incredible depth in the attacking areas, Dechamps has a big task on his hands balancing the minutes so many world-class players like Mbappé and Ousmane Dembele.
The Real Madrid man has been on-fire this season despite his sides poor performance in both the league and Champions League and has always been a monumental presence for his national team.
Another two goals for Mbappé saw him move up to 14 at the World Cup, overtaking Pele and leaving him within a brace of drawing level with all-time leading scorers Miroslav Klose and Lionel Messi should the latter not score tonight.
His competition is Ousmane Dembele who is fresh off the back of an incredible two seasons where he won the Ballon D’or and achieved the double with PSG which included retaining the Champions League.
There has been many questions about which player should lead the line for France, with the PSG forward starting in the number 10 against Sengal, and Deschamps was asked about how to deal with one of his superstars.
He said: “Dembele? You’re observing him, he struggled in the first half against Senegal, as did the entire team, due to Senegal’s style of play and also because of our mistakes.
“Ousmane plays as a forward at Paris Saint-Germain, but the situation is different here. There are involuntary movements, so we need to make some adjustments.
“In the second half against Senegal, Ousmane’s performance was much better. It also depends on what the other players contribute.
“Senegal closed the midfield, and we were pushed back there. Once we managed to open up the play a bit and forced their full-backs to spread out, it created more space.”
France headed into this tournament as one of the favourites to win the competition alongside Spain, Argentina and England, but Deschamps side will have to scale massive hurdles to make it to that final at the MetLife stadium in July.
Should France top their group their pathway would most likely involve meeting the current European champions at some point before the final, Spain to most people provide the biggest test at this tournament for France.
Deschamps is more than aware of his rivals strengths and more specifically the strengths of a certain Lamine Yamal.
He said: “I have no doubt… the Spanish team is stronger with him on the field. This is no longer an opinion, but a reality based on what we see. When a player like him plays, he completely changes the rhythm of the game.
“He forces defenders to adapt, creates spaces where there are none, and brings an unpredictability that is hard to control.”
Deschamps continued his praise for Yamal, adding that his confidence adding to his “goals or decisive passes” brings another level to the European champions’ attacks.
It would be a mouth-watering affair should France and Spain meet each other in the latter stages of the competition.
Not only would it be a battle of the two best sides in this tournament it would also pit some of the best attackers in the world against each other.
The match will kick off at 20:00 (BST) and will be broadcast live on BBC One, iPlayer, and the BBC Sport website.
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