France players celebrate their victory at 2016 Euro.
After tweaking his formation
and starting lineup at Euro 2016, France coach Didier Deschamps seems to
have found the perfect formula at just the right time.
Thanks to his shrewd tactics, his team turned on the style to outplay
Iceland 5-2 on Sunday and advance to an appetising semi-final battle
with Germany.
The fact that France, who had never got past the last eight at the
finals since their 2000 triumph, managed to get almost everything right,
has a lot to do with Deschamps' methods.
The grey-haired winning machine, who has kept tinkering with his
squad since the start of the tournament, seems to have found what he was
looking for.
Deschamps had experimented in earlier games, alternating between
different systems and dropping key players, such as Paul Pogba and
Antoine Griezmann, to the bench.
The coach's masterstroke came at halftime in the 2-1 win over Ireland
in the last 16 when he pushed Dimitri Payet wider and Griezmann closer
to Olivier Giroud up front, switching from a 4-3-3 to 4-2-3-1 formation.
The result was that Griezmann scored twice to secure a place in the quarter-finals.
Former European Championship and World Cup-winning captain Deschamps
opted for the same system against Iceland, surprising many by preferring
the powerful Moussa Sissoko to the speedy Kingsley Coman on the right
flank.
With a showdown against world champions Germany already in mind,
Deschamps chose to make substitutions in the second half and his team
looked more vulnerable, dropping their guard twice to allow Iceland to
limit the damage.
STRONG START
From left, Christophe Jallet, Antoine Griezmann, Paul Pogba and Dimitri Payet of France.
France, who had struggled on
their path to the last eight, needing late rallies and scoring all their
six goals before Sunday's match in the second half, followed Deschamps'
orders by taking the game to their surprise opponents straight away.
As a result, Iceland were left running after the ball and chasing
down the score, finding themselves 2-0 down less than 20 minutes into
the game.
France got plenty of goals, some simple and some beautiful. Payet and
Griezmann again showed their class, each scoring fine goals.
Man-of-the-match Olivier Giroud also played his part. The
old-fashioned but efficient centre forward scored twice and was involved
in two other goals.
Pogba, too, rose to the occasion. The gifted but erratic midfielder,
who had been criticised for below-par performances, crowned a convincing
display with a superb headed goal.
France, who know all about losing to Germany in the semi-finals,
having done it twice -- at the 1982 and 1986 World Cups -- are not yet
where they want to be.
They have shown signs of weakness at the back, visible again on
Sunday when Patrice Evra looked his age as they conceded a second goal,
and the defence faces a stern test against Germany.
But at least by making Iceland look ordinary, and England even worse
since the islanders made them appear clueless in their 2-1 last 16 loss,
France finally look like the favourites many expected when the
tournament started.
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