France face a Belgium side who have been in cruise control over the past two years. With a stunning 2-1 win over five-time world champions Brazil in the quarter-finals, the Red Devils arrived.
While Roberto Martinez’s side have been in cruise control, Didier Deschamps’s side have not been too shabby either. The hurt of losing the final of the European Championships on home soil might have hurt Les Blues.
The young French team faced stern tests against Argentina and Uruguay, but passed it with flying colours. During the World Cup qualifiers, the French lost just one game. There, again, they were effective despite not running riot a la Belgium. In the tables and the results below, one can see that the 1998 champions have distributed goalscoring duties effectively but have far inferior goals scored (43) to their tally compared to Belgium.
It doesn’t come as a surprise that Antoine Griezmann is leading the goal-scoring charts. Olivier Giroud, despite not being a regular starter stands toe-to-toe with the Atletico Madrid forward.
France (Since Euro 2016)
| 2018 World Cup | World Cup Qualifiers | Friendlies | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wins | 5 | 7 | 6 |
| Losses | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Draws | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| Goals Scored | 9 | 18 | 23 |
| Goals Conceded | 4 | 6 | 10 |
| Clean Sheets | 3 | 5 | 2 |
| Average Goals Scored | 1.8 | 1.8 | 3.8 |
| Average Goals Conceded | 0.8 | 0.6 | 1.6 |
World Cup
July 6 at Nizhny Novgorod:
Uruguay 0-2 France (Raphael Varane, Antoine Griezmann)
June 26 at Kazan
Argentina 3-4 France (Kylian Mbappe x 2, Antoine Griezmann, Benjamin Pavard)
June 26 at Moscow
France 0-0 Denmark
June 21 at Ekaterinberg
France 1-0 Peru (Kylian Mbappe)
June 16 at Kazan
France 2-1 Australia (Antoine Griezmann, Paul Pogba)
Friendlies
France 1-1 USA (Kylian Mbappe)
June 1, 2018
France 3-1 Italy (Samuel Umtiti, Antoine Griezmann, Ousmane Dembele)
March 28, 2018
France 2-0 Ireland (Olivier Giroud, Nabil Fekir)
March 27, 2018
Russia 1-3 France (Kylian Mbappe x 2, Paul Pogba)
March 23, 2017
France 2-3 Colombia (Olvier Giroud, Thomas Lemar)
October 14, 2017
Germany 2-2 France (Alexandre Lacazette)
October 13, 2017
France 2-0 Wales (Antoine Griezmann, Olivier Giroud)
June 13, 2017
France 3 (Samuel Umtiti, Djibril Sidibe, Ousmane Dembele) England 2
June 2, 2017
France 5-0 Paraguay (Olivier Giroud x 3, Antoine Griezmann, Moussa Sissoko)
Top scorers for France (Since Euro 2016)
| Player | Goals |
|---|---|
| Antoine Griezmann | 10 |
| Olivier Giroud | 10 |
| Kylian Mbappe | 7 |
| Paul Pogba | 4 |
World Cup qualifiers
September 7, 2016
Belarus 0-0 France
October 8, 2016
France 4-1 Bulgaria (Kevin Gameiro x 2, Dimitri Payet, Antoine Griezmann)
October 11, 2016
Netherlands 0-1 France (Paul Pogba)
November 11, 2016
France 2-1 Sweden (Paul Pogba, Dimitri Payet)
March 26, 2017
Luxembourg 1-3 France (Olivier Giroud 2, Antoine Griezmann)
June 9, 2017
Sweden 2-1 France (Olivier Giroud)
August 31, 2017
France 4-0 Netherlands (Thomas Lemar x 2, Antoine Griezmann, Kylian Mbappe)
September 4, 2017
France 0-0 Luxembourg
October 8, 2017
Bulgaria 0-1 France (Blaise Matuidi)
October 10, 2017
France 2-1 Belarus (Antoine Griezmann, Olivier Giroud)
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