Match Report: France 3-2 Chile

After being beaten by Germany in an overly underwhelming performance in Lyon on Saturday evening (0-2), Didier Deschamps’ men were looking to bounce back at Marseille’s Vélodrome against Chile. It was a game full of current and former Ligue 1 talents, with the likes of Mattéo Guendouzi, William Saliba, and Chile’s Alexis Sánchez being reunited with their former home stadium.

Similarly to the clash against Germany, Les Bleus started the match slowly. This time Marcelino Núñez weaved through the French defence and squeezed a low finish past Maignan for an early opener for the South American visitors (6′).

Les Bleus mount first-half comeback

It was a goal which seemed to refocus Deschamps’ side, who managed to react with a counteroffensive of their own. 10 minutes after the opening goal,midfielder Youssouf Fofana tried his luck from range, and his low-hit strike whizzed past Claudio Bravo into the bottom corner to level proceedings (18′). It would be the AS Monaco man’s third goal for Les Bleus since his debut in 2022.

The first half would get better for France, who continued to take control of the ball and then managed to pull themselves in front thanks to Paris Saint-Germain forward Randal Kolo Muani. The 24-year-old leaped high to meet a pin perfect cross from Théo Hernandez and head home to put Les Bleus into the lead. The Parisian would become the second-ever PSG player to score with France at the Vélodrome since Nicolas Anelka.

It would take a long wait in the second half, as it settled into a slow-paced affair between the two sides, but Olivier Giroud would add France’s third goal of evening, with an emphatic strike from the the centre of the box after a lovely weaving run from Kolo Muani (72′). The visitors clawed a goal back through Dario Osorio only ten minutes later, with a driven shot from the edge of the box (82′). Yet, despite the threat from Chile, Les Bleus saw out the affair to return to winning ways after disappointment in Lyon last Saturday.

THE STAT

Kylian Mbappé levelled Thierry Henry’s assist record for the France national team (27) – the PSG man has now been involved in 14 goals in his 9 appearances with Les Bleus.

ELSEWHERE… Mikautadze qualifies for EURO 2024 with Frankowski, Ivory Coast victorious over Uruguay

Metz’s Georges Mikautadze and Georgia qualified for the finals of UEFA Euro 2024 thanks to a shootout win over Greece following a tense 0-0 draw after extra-time. It will be a historic first major tournament for Georgia in Germany this summer.

Poland won against Wales on penalties (5-3) in Cardiff to also secure a spot at this summer’s Euros, with Lens defender Frankowski scoring in the penalty shootout to help his country earn a spot in the same group as France! 

Wilfred Singo (Monaco), Oumar Diakité (Reims), Guela Doué (Rennes), and Manuel Ugarte (PSG) featured during Ivory Coast’s 2-1 friendly win over Uruguay. The Rennes man managed to get on the scoresheet late in the game (84′) to hand the win to the 2024 AFCON Champions.