We’re under way.
As expected, the hosts got the win they wanted on opening night, although they left it pretty late. With the French defence looking shaky all night, West Ham’s Dimitri Payet rescued all three points with his 89th minute wonder strike.
Earlier in the second half, Olivier Giroud had given the French the lead before Romania drew level from Bogdan Stancu’s spot kick.
With the first 90 minutes done and dusted, here are five things we didn’t learn from match one in the Stade de France.
Why France don’t like defending corners
As Manchester City fans will testify, ‘defender’ Eliaquim Mangala has a tendency not to bother doing his job at corners. But with Mangala watching on from the French bench, it soon became clear that allowing opponents free headers from set plays is something that’s rife amongst Deschamps’ team.
They got away with it twice in the opening minutes and then again immediately after Olivier Giroud nodded them in front. They probably won’t get away with if they are to progress.
Why Paul Pogba is reportedly worth £473m
Now calm down all you FIFAÂ fanboys out there. We all know that Paul Pogba has a an impressive portfolio of wacky hairdos and an uncanny knack of smashing home the odd thirty yard thunderbastard of a shot, but tonight wasn’t his finest hour, was it?
Sure – there were glimpses of his obvious class, but with just about everyone in the world tipping him to be the stand out performer of the entire tournament, he didn’t really get going and was subbed with 20 minutes to go.
What was going through Patrice Evra’s mind when he decided to give away a penalty
As if gifting your opponents free headers from set plays wasn’t generous enough, Patrice Evra went one stage further and gave away a silly penalty.
It should go without saying that when your opponent is heading the ball, kicking him in the shins almost certainly won’t end well from your point of views. Undeterred, Evra gave it a go anyway.
Why Dimitri Payet has only just become the greatest player on the planet in the last twelve months
Forget your Pogbas and your Griezmanns, France’s main man is Dimitri Payet. Not only did he come up with an absolute worldy to win this one, he also set up Giroud’s opener and was the man pulling all the French strings for most of the night.
Which again begs the question, how the hell did it take so long for him to establish himself as such a talent? Don’t get us wrong, at 29 years of age he’s not exactly ready for the nursing home, but for a footballer, he’s certainly a late bloomer. What a player.
If leaving Benzema out will come back to bite French arses
High profile sex tape scandal aside, Karim Benzema would be leading the French line in this tournament. He is still the best striker France have and arguably still their biggest name. Olivier Giroud might make up for not being quite as good by being far, far more handsome, but despite scoring against Romania, he was guilty of missing a couple of chances earlier on.
With Antoine Griezmann also having an off night, you wonder if the decision not to allow Benzema back in to the squad will be a costly one if France reach the tournament’s latter stages. After all, you can’t rely on late, long-range screamers to dig you out of every match, can you?
