Switzerland and France face off in their final Group A this night at the Stade Pierre-Mauroy. The host nation became the first team to qualify for the Round of 16 following their 2-0 victory over Albania. Switzerland are guaranteed to finish in the top 3 but would top the group with a win over the French.
Switzerland drew their second match 1-1 with Romania on Wednesday. Admir Mehmedi’s brilliant volley levelled things up after Stephan Lichtsteiner conceded an early penalty. Granit Xhaka picked up his second consecutive Man of the Match award for his dominating midfield performance.
Head coach Vladimir Petkovic has admitted that he missed Mehmedi’s strike. “I didn’t see our goal. I was looking to make a change at the time and I had my back to the action. I am told it was excellent and of course it was well deserved. Also, importantly today, our defence were excellent. OK, we gave away the penalty but other than that we didn’t let them have too many chances.”
“It would be nice to finish top, of course. There would be a lot of prestige to do that against the host nation. But second or even third … who knows what would work out easier in terms of the draw?”
France left it late for the second game in a row. Didier Deschamps started with Paul Pogba and Antoine Griezmann on the bench. Anthony Martial was handed a start but was hauled off at half time after failing to impress. Olivier Giroud spurned a number of opportunities and was spared humiliation when substitute Griezmann opened the scoring in the 90th minute. Dimitri Payet added a second with a trademark finish deep into stoppage time.
Deschamps still has a number of issues to iron out, although a clean sheet was welcomed. Much like the first game, the victory has temporarily papered over the cracks. With qualification assured, it remains to be seen whether or not France will rotate their squad for the match against the Swiss.
French supported will be hoping for a repeat of their clash at the 2014 World Cup, where France won 5-2.
