France may have kicked off their Qatar 2022 campaign with a comprehensive-looking victory against Australia but it was not all smiles in the aftermath.
The loss of Lucas Hernandez to a cruciate ligament injury to his right knee, sustained after just nine minutes of Tuesday’s Group D contest, was a cruel blow and leaves his brother, Theo, as the only specialist left-back available to coach Didier Deschamps.
The AC Milan full-back looked good going forward against the Socceroos and set up Adrien Rabiot’s goal, showcasing his offensive prowess. On the flipside, he lacks his brother’s experience of big tournaments and has been known to make the odd defensive error owing chiefly to lapses in concentration.
The other area of concern for Deschamps is the centre of his defence. All eyes were on the pairing of Dayot Upamecano and Ibrahima Konate against Australia, and they put in a mixed performance. Much along the lines of the rest of the team, the defensive duo were arguably too passive to begin with and found themselves overrun by Australian attacks.
As the game wore on, Upamecano began to look much more comfortable, in contrast to his recent appearances for France. Overall, he won eight duels and made eight interceptions – a key factor in France turning defence into attack. Is he the man to replace Samuel Umtiti in the heart of the French defence? As things stand, the answer to that question is probably yes.
“I told myself that I needed to give it my all, so I gave it everything I’ve got throughout the match,” said the Bayern Munich player, who was also the France player with the most successful passes (131). Of that number, 10 of them went to Antoine Griezmann, while 19 in total were in the attacking third.
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