Real Football Man All of the Football, All of the time
France asserted their dominance at the top of Group A of the European World Cup Qualifiers after an impressive home win against the Netherlands. Didier Deschamps men ran out eventual 4-0 winners in what was a game that saw them hardly get out of first gear all evening.
Questions will have to be asked of Dick Advocaat’s Dutch side who looked lost in Paris and they now look highly unlikely to qualify for the World Cup next summer. This would mean a second straight international tournament in which they would fail to make the finals.
Their plight has been worsened by the fact that they now find themselves fourth in the group after being over taken by Bulgaria. The group has been blown wide open now as Bulgaria are just a point behind Sweden who they beat 3-2 last night in Sofia.
In Paris though it was a performance that highlighted how good France were and how bad the Netherlands were also. Antonie Griezmann gave France an early lead after a neat one-two with Arsenal’s Oliver Giroud, with the Atletico Madrid forward then coolly slotting the ball under Jasper Cillessen to break the deadlock.
That would be all the goals going into the break but then the floodgates would collapse after the break after France scored three unanswered second half strikes. Thomas Lemar may not have sealed a move to the Premier League but he was on hand to score a brace last night.
His first with 17 minutes to go all but wrapped up victory as by this point Kevin Strootman had already been shown a red card for a second bookable offence just after the hour and with two minutes to Lemar had scored his second of the night to make it 3-0.
There was still time for wonderkid Kylian Mbappe to get himself on the scoresheet in injury time. The player had just secured a move to PSG that afternoon and then he scored what is likely to be the first of many goals for the national team.
An impressive night for the French side but a night to forget for the Dutch as they will now have to start planning for Euro 2020 qualification.
Here are the highlights
