It was an unfair way for an unfashionable Uruguay side to bow out of this competition, but the game itself did teach us some valuable things about both sides going forward, here are four of them.
4. Uruguay Lack a Ball Playing Midfielder
It’s been a common theme of this World Cup campaign for Uruguay. They’ve been functional and difficult to break down, but in possession they’ve struggled because they don’t possess a player who can break the lines and control the tempo. In much the same way that England do, Uruguay need to develop a player in the mould of a Toni Kroos.
Bentancur was the only player of Uruguay’s midfield four to achieve pass accuracy of over 75% against France, they simply don’t keep the ball well enough.
3. Didier Deschamps Has Figured It Out – Finally
A lot of pre-tournament talk surrounding France was centred upon how they planned to set up. A 4-3-3 made sense because Deschamps needed to fit Mbappe, Griezmann and Dembele all in the same team. On paper it worked, in reality it didn’t, France were slow starters and didn’t look fluid. A 4-4-2 was closer, but not quite right.
And so Deschamps employed the 4-2-3-1, and shock horror, this France team now looks deadly. Everyone knows Griezmann plays his best football as a second striker playing off a big centre forward, it’s just a shame it took Deschamps until the knockout rounds (of his third major tournament) to work it out. We’ve been deprived of some potentially wonderful attacking football, and Deschamps is to blame.
2. Every Batman Needs His Robin
It seems odd to be describing a world class striker as being Robin, but for Edinson Cavani when you’re in the same team as Luis Suarez, it only seems fair.
Suarez noticeably struggled without Cavani against France, frequently looking exasperated at the lack of quality possessed by Cavani’s replacement, Christian Stuani. The link up play between Cavani and Suarez is almost telepathic, and the partnership they’ve forged over so many years was sorely missed in such a crucial fixture. Suarez just isn’t the same without him.
1. France’s Depth Could Be Key to World Cup Glory
France arguably have the most talented and deep squad at this tournament alongside Belgium. The problem you face if you play them is who do you focus on? Man mark Griezmann and you allow Mbappe more space, or Pogba, or Dembele, or Fekir, or Lemar. Pick your poison.
The depth to this France squad means they can afford for a star player to have an off game, because they have another 4/5 stars to pick up the slack. It’s a scary proposition, and teams are going to struggle to contain this French side going forward.
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