France friendlies have rarely been stale affairs of late, and though their clash with Wales in Paris was decided by goals in either half from Antoine Griezmann and Olivier Giroud, there was no shortage of entertainment for the Stade de France crowd.
Indeed, the home side hit the woodwork four times on an evening upon which they could have dispatched the Euro 2016 semi-finalists, who were admittedly short of Gareth Bale, by a far greater margin. Kylian Mbappe, Kingsley Coman, Samuel Umtiti and Benjamin Pavard all came within inches of finding the net as the hosts once again flexed their offensive muscles.
Whether Didier Deschamps liked it or not, his hand was forced into an experimental line up against opponents who might not have qualified for the World Cup, but who were defeated only once in their qualifying group.
The home team, though still able to field a star-studded starting XI, were missing as many as six starters from their line up. Hugo Lloris, Djibril Sidibe, Benjamin Mendy, N’Golo Kante, Paul Pogba and Ousmane Dembele were all laid up because of injury troubles, yet the hosts barely missed a beat in a fixture that they largely dominated.
At the heart of it all in the first half was Griezmann. Out of form domestically at Atletico Madrid, where he has netted only three goals so far this season, he offered a persistent threat in the opening period, when France were arguably at their most fluent.
Playing behind Giroud in a free-roaming No.10 position, he brought France the rhythm that allowed them to pick apart a Wales defence that afforded their hosts few spaces in which to launch easy attacks. Instead, the quality and speed of the home passing had already sliced them open on numerous occasions before Corentin Tolisso’s cross was dispatched by the Atletico ace.
Mbappe had played an impressive supporting role in the first 45 minutes, but charged into the spotlight in the second half, when his individual trickery, intelligence and sheer pace regularly left Neil Taylor looking rather amateurish. The PSG player would have rendered the majority of the world’s full-backs helpless in such form and he was unfortunate he was unable to add to his single international goal.
But while he was unable to get on the scoresheet himself, it was his often underrated selflessness that allowed Giroud to strike. Mbappe’s record of making goals for other is often overshadowed by his other attributes, yet he showed just how effective a creator he is by showing patience and wits to set up the Arsenal man to send a deflected shot into the corner of the net.
It was the least France deserved, but the Wales display was not without positives. In particular, the displays of debutants David Brooks and Chelsea teenager Ethan Ampadu will offer optimism for the future, particularly as Ben Woodburn also came off the bench. With Panama to come in midweek for Chris Coleman’s side, they will see that as a more realistic target to get back on track after their failure to qualify for Russia – and perhaps as a fond farewell to their coach.
France, meanwhile, have loftier targets. The World Cup awaits them, and this solid victory against a potentially tricky opponent can fill Deschamps with optimism over the depth of his side, not to mention the star quality he possesses in the form of Griezmann and Mbappe.
