REVIEW: France show their quality in Swiss mauling
France continue to impress at this World Cup this summer as they blitzed Switzerland for five goals in their 5-2 win. Always looking to score each time they went forward, they put on a fantastic counter attacking display against their southern neighbors. The battle for Group E supremacy turned into a massacre. Here is our review.
"Starting XI’sFrance – Hugo Lloris; Patrice Evra, Mamadou Sakho, Raphael Varane, Mathieu Debuchy; Blaise Matuidi, Yohan Cabaye, Moussa Sissoko; Mathier Valbuena; Karim Benzema, Olivier Giroud"
"Switzerland – Diego Benaglio; Ricardo Rodriguez, Steve von Bergen, Johan Djourou, Stephan Lichtsteiner; Granit Xhaka Gokhan Inler, Valon Behrami; Admir Mehmedi, Haris Seferovic, Xheran Shaqiri"
First Half
The opening exchanges were scrappy at best, but Kairm Benzema had a real quality look at goal in the 5th minute – his curling effort was wide of the mark, not even testing Benaglio but his confidence gained from France’s opener was clearly there. Switzerland would have to use their first sub of the match before the 10th minute when center-back Steve von Bergen was unintentionally kicked in the face by Olivier Giroud – such was his injury that Philippe Senderos came on to replace him.
Arsenal’s Olivier Giroud opened the scoring with a brilliant header
Switzerlands sloppy play would complete destroy them in a matter of a minute. France first opened the scoring after a well taken corner found the head of Giroud who headed home for his first of the tournament, despite Benaglio needing to do better. 67-seconds later, Valon Behrami gave the ball away in midfield too easily and France were on the break – Giroud found Benzema who then slotted Blaise Matuidi through on goal who’s near post effort beat Benaglio, who again, needed to do better.
Blaise Matuidi makes it 2-0 just 67 seconds after Grioud’s opener
Never the less, France were 2-0 up before the 20 minute mark. Despite his greater experience, you wonder why Yann Sommer has not been given a look at, the same for Fabian Schar in central defense – not only their leading scorer in qualifying, but he proved in Champions League this season with FC Basel that he is fantastic, and surely has far more pace and quality than Senderos and von Bergen.
Switzerland would do well to try to get back into the match in and around the 30minute mark. First an effort from Granit Xhaka would find the net after it fell to him in the box after a corner, but he was rightly ruled offside. Soon after Seferovic tested Lloris well, and the shot was parried right into the path of Shaqiri who did not strike it well – another chance gone begging and they would almost pay the price. Johan Djourou would foolishly bring Benzema down in the box when he was more likely to run out of bounds than do much else, but Benzema’s effort from the spot was well saved by Benaglio and the rebound fell to Cabaye who could only put it off the woodwork. Disaster averted by the Swiss.
The impressive Mathieu Valbuena makes it 3-0, surely putting the result to bed
France would find their third in the half when they broke quickly from the Swiss corner. Raphael Varane played a lovely ball to Giroud who had acres of space ahead of him – he slotted the ball across the goal mouth to Valbuena who slotted home from close range. 3-0 and it was curtains for the Swiss. The half could not come any sooner for the Swiss, and with France firing on all cylinders, the second stanza really was only a formality.
Second Half
The second half would begin with the removal of Behrami, who was quite poor on the day and in stark contrast to his very good performance against Ecuador – he was replaced by Blermi Dzemaili in a move that Ottmar Hitfeld hope would give Switzerland better cohesion in midfield considering Inler and Dzemaili play their club football at Napoli together.
Despite France going off the boil a little and Switzerland beginning to find the odd chance more frequently, they were still quite comfortable. In a bid to further stabilize his own midfield, Didier Deschamps would bring on Paul Pogba for Giroud, who was fantastic in his 62minute performance. Mamadou Sakho was removed precautionary after picking up a knock, and Laurent Koscielny was his replacement.
Karim Benzema (10) scored a very well taken goal, his third of the tournament.
Not to be out done by anyone this summer thus far, Pogba played what can only be described as a “Pirlo-esque” ball to Benzema who cooly finished between the legs of Benaglio in the 67th minute. It was more poor marking from both Djourou and Senderos, but it was a fantastic bit of everything from France, and Giroud was now on three goals in the tournament tied with Thomas Muller, Robin van Persie and Arjen Robben. Still not done, France would add a fifth goal four minutes later through Moussa Sissoko after France found it all too easy to unlock the Swiss defense yet again. The rout was surely on and the Swiss completely capitulated on the night.
Switzerland would at least restore a shred of pride in themselves when second-half substitute Blerim Dzemaili scored a 25-yard free-kick that never should have been, after his low drive somehow got through the wall. A second goal from Granit Xhaka would restore further pride for the Swiss after he was put through on goal with a lovely over-the-top ball by Gokhan Inler – the goal was very well taken, but it would not be enough.
Full time would come and with their impressive performance, France have continued to erase the memories of their torrid time in 2010. The only blemish in their performance coming in the late stages of the match when they switched off mentally after being far too comfortable when they went 5-0 up. Still and yet, they were incredibly impressive despite it.
Man of the match
Mathieu Valbuena – Franck Ribery who? Despite the French talisman missing the tournament, no one has noticed what so ever. Valbuena is often over looked in the discussion of creative attacking players in European football, but his performances here must throw him near the top of that list. In a word, he was fantastic today, just as he was in the opener against Honduras.
"Player ratings for France"
"Lloris (6.5) – Should have done far better on the first goal by the Swiss, but he was decent other wise."
"Evra (7.0) – Solid performance from him, simple as that."
"Sakho (7.5) – Had a very solid performance at the back, proving why Deschamps continues to select him ahead of Koscielny."
"Varane (7.5) – He was very good as usual, despite his young age, showed a ton of maturity. He played an excellent ball to set Giroud off which led to their third goal as well."
"Debuchy (7.0) – Was solid as usual in a France shirt despite struggling at club level at times. He looks the decent choice over Bacary Sagna."
"Matuidi (8.0) – Put in another superb outing for France and even got himself a goal. He is such a driving force in midfield."
"Cabaye (7.5) – Should have gotten himself a goal, but he was still quite solid as per usual."
"Sissoko (7.5) – Bagged his first goal for his country on France’s third on the day. Was very good throughout the match."
"Valbuena (9.0) – Once again France’s best player on the day. Constantly creating chances for whomever stormed forward and got himself on the scoresheet as well. He makes everyone forget Ribery is not there."
"Giroud (8.0) – A goal, an assist and an all round fantastic performance from him. His partnership with Benzema was great and his movement off the ball was excellent."
"Benzema (8.5) – Should have had more than one goal, but he was even better than their first match. He was involved in all of France’s goals in one way or another.Pogba (7.0) – Played thirty minutes, got himself a brilliant assist and was still very good despite not playing in 2/3’s of the match.Koscielny (5.5) – Really did not do well once introduced and his performance was a very big step backwards from what Sakho had put in.Griezmann (5.0) – Didn’t have enough time to really make an impact. Not his fault and the rating is not a punishment."
"Player ratings for Switzerland"
"Benaglio (4.0) – Should have done so much better on the first two, and while the other three were not his fault, he needed to do a far better job at organizing the defense."
"Rodriguez (5.0) – Was so poor compared to how brilliant he was against Ecuador. He needs to improve for Honduras, as inconsistency is a killer at the World Cup."
"von Bergen (5.0) – Took one to the face by way of Giroud’s left boot and was taken out on 6minutes."
"Djourou (4.0) – Horrible on the day, and it’s that simple."
"Lichtsteiner (4.0) – Was caught out, exposed and beaten for pace far too many times. Michael Lang may need to be trusted against Honduras in his place."
"Xhaka (7.0) – Scored a brilliantly taken goal and was a general threat for the entire match. One of only two bright spots all match long for the Swiss."
"Inler (6.0) – He was decent, but needs to do so much better at controlling proceedings in midfield."
"Behrami (5.0) – His performance today was in stark contrast to how he played against Ecuador. He turned the ball over far too many times in midfield and never put his stamp on the midfield battle."
"Mehmedi (5.5) – Below average from him on the day really. Threatened on the odd time here and there but was not consistent enough in his play to have a real effect."
"Seferovic (4.0) – Offered nothing going forward when given the start this time around over Drmic."
"Shaqiri (7.0) – The other bright spot for the Swiss today, he was a constant thorn in the French side and really should have scored a goal as well."
"Senderos (3.0) – Utterly abysmal. His poor showing combined with that of Djourou really needs to be realized and as such, Fabian Schar needs to be given a deserved chance.Dzemaili (6.0) – Apart from the goal he scored, you know, the one that never should have happened, he didn’t have a very influential performance."