France vs Romania a few quick thoughts
Dan Tracey
June 11, 2016
1,493 Views
- Dimitri Payet will rightfully get the plaudits after his fantastic 89th minute winner capped a man of the match performance and made sure that France’s party wasn’t going to be ruined on the opening night
- France get the three points but even after the 3rd minute it could have been a different story
- Hugo Lloris was called into action early on with a reflex save from a close range Bogdan Stancu effort
- They survived that early scare and then had their first real opening within 15 minutes of kick off
- Antoine Griezmann was unlucky to see his chance hit the post after he readjusted his body quickly after Vlad Chiriches attempted clearance fell at the Atletico forwards feat
- The France side had the expectations of a nation on their shoulders and they struggled to find an opening when it really mattered
- Oliver Giroud had two headed chances which failed to land on target
- The longer that France went without scoring the more tense the atmosphere in the Stade De France was becoming
- Paul Pogba looked useful but never really showed the talents at his disposal, he’ll need to raise his game if he is to lead this France to European Championship glory this Summer
- N’Golo Kante looked just as good in a France shirt then he does in a Leicester one, he was breaking up any potential Romania attack and constantly adding to France’s supply line
- Not just simple passes either, he was spraying passes out wide from the diagonal and landing it on Dimitri Payet’s foot each time. With France’s slightly suspect back line at least with Kante in the form he is then that should alleviate some of that concern
- Half time and the scores were level, the question that was asked was if and when Didier Deschamps would change things around
- Once again though it was Romania who started quickest out of the blocks, with Stancu left unmarked in the box but he couldn’t quite get the right bodyshape and his effort went wide with Lloris left rooted to the spot
- A lucky escape again for France
- But any plans that Didier Deschamps may have to change personnel would have been put on ice as Oliver Giroud scored the goal that the whole of France craved
- Again Dimitri Payet was given time to cross in a ball into the box and this time Giroud managed to get his header on target as it nestled into the Romanian net to put the hosts ahead
- Giroud was stronger in the jump as he beat Ciprian Tatarusanu to the punch
- Ciprian Tatarusanu felt he was fouled but there is no chance of the goal being disallowed and Giroud had put the home crowd into raptures
- You felt though that France were going to have to score a second to make sure of a win
- Paul Pogba saw his volley well saved by Tatarusanu as France looked to double their advantage
- But for all of France’s attacking endeavour the party mood at the Stade De France lasted only 8 minutes
- Patrice Evra clipped Nicolae Stanciu inside the area. A reckless tackle from such an experienced defender
- This gave Bogdan Stancu the opportunity to finally get on the score sheet and it was third time lucky as he sent Hugo Lloris the wrong way to restore parity and level things up at 1-1
- France then had to search for a winner
- Antoine Griezmann was sacrificed for Kingsley Coman and a slightly ineffectual Paul Pogba was taken off for Anthony Martial
- Deschamps had decided to roll the dice but it wasn’t one of the subs who won the game
- Step forward Dimitri Payet
- Romania were too casual in closing down the West Ham player and he had enough time on the edge of the box to curl a beautiful finish past the hapless Romanian Goalkeeper and give France all three points in dramatic circumstances
- France have got past the opening hurdle and now they can begin to relax into the tournament
- While Romania can take credit from that performance and with 3rd place potentially being enough to get out the group, Anghel Ioradanescu’s side will still have plenty to play for in their remaining two group matches
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