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France closed out their international friendly campaign prior to the World Cup with a 1-1 draw between themselves and the United States. A match many fans thought France would win by a large margin was simply a draw. With nothing to lose for the US, they played many of their young players against France’s full squad. With 5 at the back, they approached the match with a more defensive emphasis, as France held possession and shots by a large differential.
Raphael Varane played quite well with his defensive partner Samuel Umtiti. Many have this down as one of the best centerback pairings in the World Cup this year; who knew a Real Madrid player and a Barcelona player would have such great chemistry. Varane has definitely shown he has become one of the best young centerbacks with his achievements at Real Madrid. We know just how good he is already, now he is trying to prove it even further on the world stage for France. He was quite the stalwart in today’s match against the United States and stopped much of the US attack alongside Umtiti.
France are one of the favorites for the World Cup this year. They have a strong squad from top to bottom and a fairly deep bench. Their weakness is clearly at fullback with Djibril Sidibe and Ben Mendy coming off a major injury, which caused him to miss the entire Premier League season for Manchester City. Real’s rival player Antoine Griezmann is also looking to impress at the World Cup after leading in goals at the Euros in 2016, he didn’t score but looked dangerous trying to take and create chances. Kylian Mbappe also looks like he is ready to light up the World Cup at just 19 years of age, he was the lone goal scorer for France today. France also had an injury scare when Olivier Giroud collided heads with USA’s Matt Miazga, where both drew blood. France actually seemed to step up their attack and even scored without Giroud on the pitch.
Varane and France will be back in action on Saturday, June 16th in their first match of the World Cup where they will take on Australia.