Succeed at the Stade de France
Although qualified for the final four of the League of Nations, the France team will want to conclude its group stage by remaining undefeated against Sweden, and erase the unpleasant memory of the friendly defeat against Finland (0-2) last Wednesday. “This defeat reminded us to order,” says Hugo Lloris, who believes that the Blues must “end on a good note the calendar year.”
Deschamps’ men haven’t won any of their last two home games (0-0 against Portugal, 0-2 against Finland) – a first since 2015, nor have they scored twice in a row on their land, which had not happened since 2004. A victory would give more relief to the results of this first phase of the League of Nations with a total of 5 wins and 1 draw, or 16 points out of 18 possible.
Mbappé of entry into the 4-4-2 of November?
Didier Deschamps will maintain the flat 4-4-2 system he has set up for the first two matches in November. Due to the very tight deadlines between matches, a new variation after the September 3-5-2 and the October diamond is not on the agenda, according to the coach.
Deschamps takes this game very seriously and believes that there are also personal issues for his players. We already know that Kanté, suspended, will be forfeited, just like Tolisso, injured. Monday, Rabiot and Martial followed a differentiated session from the rest of the group, and are therefore uncertain. On the other hand, Mbappé, who took part in the last collective training sessions, should play and perhaps start.
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Probable compositions
France : Lloris (cap.) – Dubois, Zouma, Lenglet, Digne – Coman (or Mbappé), Sissoko, Nzonzi, Thuram – Mbappé (or Griezmann), Giroud
Coach: Didier Deschamps
Sweden : Olsen – Lustig, Lindelof, Danielson, Bengtsson – Claesson, Larsson, Olsson, Forsberg – Berg (cap.), Kulusevski
Coach: Janne Andersson (absent due to Covid-19, replaced by deputy Peter Wettergren)
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Sweden plays the maintenance
Unlike the Blues, the Swedes will play a crucial match… for the maintenance in Ligue A this Tuesday in Saint-Denis. Initially, this match should have been played at Groupama Stadium in Lyon, it was logically rescheduled a few weeks ago, at the Stade de France, due to the closed session.
Perfectly tied with Croatia in 3rd place (same number of points: 3, tie in direct confrontations: 1-2 and 2-1, same goal difference, but better attack for Croatia), Sweden will have to achieve a better result or score than Croatia, which receives Portugal, to avoid relegation to Ligue B. “We will do our best, but France is one of the best teams in the world,” said Peter Wettergren, assistant coach of Sweden, which replaces the coach Jane Andersson, positive for Covid-19.
Zlatan’s shadow always …
Four years after his international retirement, Zlatan Ibrahimovic (39), and currently in great shape at AC Milan (9 goals), was talked about two weeks ago, via a tweet. In the caption of a photo where we see him with the jersey of the selection, he wrote: “Long time no see”, which can be translated as: “it’s been a long time” (that we did not seen).
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If the Swedish media commented on the hypothesis of a comeback, it was more of a not very innocent joke. The striker has repeatedly put the pressure in this direction, and as the national team are not doing very well …
Advantage to the Blues
In 22 confrontations, the France team has against Sweden, 11 wins, 5 draws and 6 defeats. If the trend was favorable to the Blagult (the blues and yellows) during the first matches (4 wins and 2 losses between 1935 and 1969), it has since been largely reversed in favor of the Blues (9 wins, 5 draws and 2 losses. ) since 1969.
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Olivier Giroud has not scored with the Blues for four matches, but being on the field for only 149 minutes it is true. He has only started two of the Blues’ last four games, against Portugal and Finland at Stade de France.
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