It has not been quite three months since France won the World Cup in Russia, and so probably their relatively uninspired performance against Iceland last night can be forgiven. My brother and I spoke about it, and we agreed that quite often, the first few games following the winning of a major championship are very often letdowns.
Iceland very nearly pulled off what would have been a stunning upset. Birkir Bjarnason got Iceland on the board first, scoring in the 30th minute. Early in the second half, Kári Árnason added another goal for cushion in the 58th, and Iceland were suddenly up by two.
Paul Pogba, and the entire French side, struggled all day, unable to adequately contain Iceland defensively, and unable to themselves score offensively. France did enjoy control over certain aspects of the game against Iceland, with 20 shots on goal to 16, although Iceland enjoyed more accurate shots on goal by a margin of 9 to 6. Still, France enjoyed a decisive advantage in possession, controlling the ball a whopping 69 percent of the time. They also passed the ball more than twice the amount of times that Iceland managed to do. Iceland had five yellow cards, compared to just one for the French side. In almost every respect, France dominated. Yet, they were unable to translate that into goals until the final minutes of the game.
Kylian Mbappé came off the bench and into the game for France in the 60th minute and, ultimately, changed the momentum, and the course, of the game. He fired a shot at goal that was initially blocked by Hannes Thór Halldórsson, but which then ricocheted off of Hólmar Örn Eyjólfsson for an own goal against Iceland.
Suddenly, France was within a goal.
Then, Mbappé finally outright got a goal in the 90th minute, saving the defending world champions from what would surely have otherwise been a loss.
Kylian Mbappé rescues France against Iceland while Portugal see off Poland by Press Association, October 11, 2018:
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2018/oct/11/kylian-mbappe-france-iceland-portugal-poland-mitrovic-serbia-montenegro
I watched some of those "highlights". In addition to the fact that it must be hard to get especially psyched for a friendly against minnows (a term the Brits often use in reference to modest opposition) Iceland after having won the World Cup, Les Bleus also have a maddening tendency to play up or down to the level of their competition. (Which I say with all due respect to the Icelandic team, who in light of what they've accomplished during the last few years get my vote for international soccer's biggest overachiever.) In other words, France manages to play very well against world class teams like Brazil or Argentina, but then struggles against comparatively modest opposition. From what I gather, Deschamps experimented with the lineup a bit (and why not), which seems to suggest that things go poorly for them whenever the usual guys aren't on the field. Kind of a shame for the crowd in Guingamp, the small town in Bretagne where this match was played. (And where, incidentally, our former neighbor Mrs. Ibarburu happens to be from originally.)
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