Football World Cup 2014 / France

This article covers the French national team at the 2014 World Cup , in which they made it to the quarter-finals. In 2014, France's men took part in a World Cup finals for the 14th time.

qualification

France faced the following opponents in Europe Group I :

rank	team	Gates	Points
1	Spain	14: 03	20th
2	France	15: 06	17th
3	Finland	05: 09	09
4th	Georgia	03:10	05
5	Belarus	07:16	04th

France	-	Spain	0: 1 and 1: 1
France	-	Finland	3-0 and 1-0
France	-	Georgia	3: 1 and 0: 0
France	-	Belarus	3: 1 and 4: 2

As runners-up in the group, the Bleus then had to play two barrage games in order to qualify for the World Cup finals. They lost the first leg 2-0 to Ukraine, but won 3-0 four days later at their home country Stade de France .

Lloris Debuchy (Sagna) Sakho (Abidal) Koscielny (Varane) Evra Matuidi Pogba (Cabaye) Valbuena (Sissoko) Ribéry Giroud Benzema 4-2-3-1 or 4-4-2

In these ten encounters, coach Didier Deschamps made frequent changes,  experimented several times with different game systems - in particular the 4-2-3-1 and a tactic with two strikers - and used a total of 31 players, only three of whom took part in all games. Of the line-up that embarrassed France at the 2010 World Cup , Lloris, Evra and Ribéry only belonged to Deschamps' regular formation (see illustration on the right) .
The following were taken into account (where, for example, "2e" stands for two substitutions):

Gate
Hugo Lloris (10)

Defense
Patrice Evra (8), Laurent Koscielny (6), Mamadou Sakho (5), Mathieu Debuchy (4), Éric Abidal (4), Raphaël Varane (3), Bacary Sagna (2 + 1e), Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa ( 2), Gaël Clichy (2), Anthony Réveillère (1)

Midfield
Mathieu Valbuena (6 + 4e), Blaise Matuidi (7 + 2e), Paul Pogba (6), Yohan Cabaye (5 + 1e), Moussa Sissoko (1 + 5e), Samir Nasri (2 + 2e), Christophe Jallet ( 3), Rio Mavuba (2), Josuha Guilavogui (1 + 1e), Abou Diaby (1), Étienne Capoue (1), Maxime Gonalons (1)

Attack
Franck Ribéry (10), Karim Benzema (7 + 2e), Olivier Giroud (6 + 3e), Jérémy Ménez (2 + 3e), Loïc Rémy (1 + 2e), Dimitri Payet (1), Bafétimbi Gomis (1e) , André-Pierre Gignac (1st)

Goal Scorer
France 18 Results obtained Ribéry (5), Giroud, Benzema, Sakho (2 each), Diaby, Capoue, Jallet, Valbuena, Nasri and Pogba (1 each). There was also an own goal by Joona Toivio from Finland .

French contingent

Deschamps submitted an initial list of 30 players to FIFA on May 13, 2014; He has already differentiated in that he has identified seven of them as possible successors (réservistes) . The trainer justified his early decision with the words that he had always been convinced that he could "promote the right attitude" among the selected, while the "reservists" would not raise any unrealistic hopes.

Only five days later, however , he had to replace goalkeeper Steve Mandanda , who had torn his first cervical vertebra on the last day of Ligue 1 , with Stéphane Ruffier. The coach also reported these 23 assets for Brazil to FIFA on June 2nd. On June 6th, after Mandanda, Franck Ribéry and Clément Grenier also announced that they would not participate in the World Cup , also due to injuries ; Deschamps nominated Rémy Cabella and Morgan Schneiderlin for them. The final roster thus includes the following footballers:

No.	Surname	Association (a)	birthday	Sp. (B) (goals)	WM- Col. (C)	World Cup goals (c)	red	G / R	yellow
goal
23	Mickaël Landreau	SC Bastia	May 14, 01979	11 (0)	0	0	0	0	0
01	Hugo Lloris	Tottenham Hotspur (ENG)	December 26, 1986	57 (0)	5	0	0	0	0
16	Stéphane Ruffier	AS Saint-Etienne	September 27, 01986	2 (0)	0	0	0	0	0
Defense
02	Mathieu Debuchy	Newcastle United (ENG)	July 28, 01985	21 (2)	4th	0	0	0	0
17th	Lucas Digne	Paris Saint-Germain	20. 07.1993	2 (0)	1	0	0	0	0
03	Patrice Evra	Manchester United (ENG)	15. 05.1981	58 (0)	4th	0	0	0	1
21st	Laurent Koscielny	Arsenal FC (ENG)	10. 09.1985	17 (0)	4th	0	0	0	0
13	Eliaquim Mangala	FC Porto (POR)	13. 02.1991	3 (0)	0	0	0	0	0
15th	Bacary Sagna	Arsenal FC (ENG)	14. 02.1983	41 (0)	1	0	0	0	0
05	Mamadou Sakho	Liverpool FC (ENG)	13. 02.1990	19 (2)	4th	0	0	0	0
04th	Raphael Varane	Real Madrid (SPA)	25. 04.1993	6 (0)	5	0	0	0	0
midfield
06th	Yohan Cabaye	Paris Saint-Germain	January 14, 01986	30 (3)	4th	0	0	0	2
14th	Blaise Matuidi	Paris Saint-Germain	09. 04.1987	23 (3)	5	1	0	0	1
12	Rio Mavuba	Lille OSC	08. 03.1984	12 (0)	1	0	0	0	0
19th	Paul Pogba	Juventus Turin (ITA)	15. 03.1993	11 (2)	5	1	0	0	1
22nd	Morgan Schneiderlin	Southampton FC (ENG)	11. 08.1989	1 (0)	1	0	0	0	0
18th	Moussa Sissoko	Newcastle United (ENG)	16. 08.1989	17 (0)	4th	1	0	0	0
08th	Mathieu Valbuena	Olympique Marseille	September 28, 01984	34 (5)	4th	1	0	0	0
attack
10	Karim Benzema	Real Madrid (SPA)	December 19, 1987	66 (21)	5	3	0	0	0
07th	Remy Cabella	HSC Montpellier	08 April 01990	1 (0)	0	0	0	0	0
09	Olivier Giroud	Arsenal FC (ENG)	30. 09.1986	30 (8)	5	1	0	0	0
11	Antoine Griezmann	Real Sociedad (SPA)	21. 03.1991	4 (3)	5	0	0	0	0
20th	Loïc Rémy	Newcastle United (ENG)	02. 01.1987	25 (5)	2	0	0	0	0
Trainer
	Didier Deschamps		11/19/1965

^(a) Club at the time of nomination

^(c) Number of games or goals before the start of the tournament

^(c) Number of games or goals in this tournament

The remaining four reservists, who had completed the full preparation program by May 28, were (in brackets: club, A-internationals / international goals) defenders Benoît Trémoulinas (2/0) and Loïc Perrin (0/0, both from the AS Saint-Etienne ), inclined by Olympique Lyon for the midfielder Maxime Gonalons (6/0) and the attacker Alexandre Lacazette (2/0).

Preparation, accommodation and premium regulation

Porto Alegre Salvador Rio de Janeiro Ribeirão Preto Brasília

Preliminary round venues (blue), round of 16 venue (green), preliminary round and quarter final venues (pink) and quarters (red)

The actual preparation phase for the World Cup began with a course on May 19 in the association's performance center . Before they left for South America, the French played three test matches in front of their home crowd. At the start, the Norwegians came to the Stade de France on May 27 and were defeated 4-0, on June 1 it was in the Stade de Nice against Paraguay (1: 1) and on June 8 - exactly one week before the first French World Cup match in Brazil - France beat Jamaica 8-0 at the Stade Pierre-Mauroy .

The Bleus chose a “spacious and modern, but not luxurious” hotel bungalow complex in Ribeirão Preto as their accommodation during the preliminary round . With this choice, the association wanted to "appear more cautious" this time "after the wastage in South Africa" ​​during the previous World Cup.

The bonus scheme stipulated that the players would be involved in the sponsorship contracts that the FFF concluded for the final round; they also received a total of 30% of the profit-related profit sharing that FIFA pays out to France at the end of the tournament. The usual point bonuses were no longer applicable. The 23 final World Cup participants have agreed to divide this income by 30, i.e. also to award a share of the bonus to the players nominated only as reservists.

Games at the World Cup finals

Preliminary round

At the World Cup finals in Brazil , France faced the following opponents in preliminary group E :

rank	team	Gates	Points
1.	France	08: 02	7th
2.	Switzerland	07: 06	6th
3.	Ecuador	03: 03	4th
4th	Honduras	01: 08	0

• June 15, 2014, 9:00 p.m. CEST ( Porto Alegre , Estádio Beira-Rio ): France - Honduras 3: 0 (1: 0)
  • Lloris - Debuchy, Sakho, Varane, Evra - Pogba (57th Sissoko), Cabaye (65th Mavuba), Matuidi - Valbuena (78th Giroud), Benzema, Griezmann
  • Goals: 1-0 Benzema (45th, penalty), 2-0 Valladares (48th, own goal), 3-0 Benzema (72nd)
  • Referee: Sandro Ricci (Brazil)
  • Best player of the game : Benzema
• June 20, 2014, 9:00 p.m. CEST ( Salvador da Bahia , Arena Fonte Nova ): France - Switzerland 5: 2 (3: 0)
  • Lloris - Debuchy, Sakho (66th Koscielny), Varane, Evra - Sissoko, Cabaye, Matuidi - Valbuena (78th Griezmann), Benzema, Giroud (63rd Pogba)
  • Goals: 1-0 Giroud (17th), 2-0 Matuidi (18th), 3-0 Valbuena (40th), 4-0 Benzema (67th), 5-0 Sissoko (73rd), 5-1 Džemaili (81st), 5: 2 Xhaka (87th)
  • Referee: Björn Kuipers (Netherlands)
  • Best player of the game: Benzema
• June 25, 2014, 10 p.m. CEST ( Rio de Janeiro , Maracanã ): France 0-0 Ecuador
  • Lloris - Sagna, Sakho (61st Varane), Koscielny, Digne - Pogba, Schneiderlin, Matuidi (67th Giroud) - Sissoko, Benzema, Griezmann (78th Rémy)
  • Referee: Noumandiez Doué (Ivory Coast)

The Bleus had only played once against one of these three group opponents in previous World Cup finals: in 2006 they did not get more than 0-0 against Switzerland in the preliminary round. They have never met in Honduras, with Ecuador only playing a friendly before this final (2-0 win in Grenoble in May 2008). In contrast, the Swiss are one of the most frequent opponents in French international history, and with 15 wins, nine draws and twelve defeats, this is a positive result from France's point of view.

Round of 16

• June 30, 2014, 6:00 p.m. CEST ( Brasília , Estádio Nacional Mané Garrincha ): France - Nigeria 2: 0 (0: 0)
  • Lloris - Debuchy, Koscielny, Varane, Evra - Pogba, Cabaye, Matuidi - Valbuena (90th + 3 Sissoko), Giroud (62nd Griezmann), Benzema
  • Goals: 1-0 Pogba (79th), 2-0 Yobo (90th + 2, own goal)
  • Referee: Mark Geiger (USA)
  • Best player of the game: Pogba

The French had only played one friendly against Nigeria so far, losing 1-0 in Saint-Étienne in 2009 .

Quarter finals

• July 4, 2014, 6:00 p.m. CEST ( Rio de Janeiro , Maracanã ): France - Germany 0: 1 (0: 1)
  • Lloris - Debuchy, Sakho (71st Koscielny), Varane, Evra - Pogba, Cabaye (73rd Rémy), Matuidi - Valbuena (85th Giroud), Benzema, Griezmann
  • Goal: 0: 1 Hummels (12.)
  • Referee: Néstor Pitana (Argentina)

The DFB selection is one of France's most frequent opponents; the overall balance of the previous 25 games is positive with eleven wins, six draws and eight defeats. At the World Cup finals there have been three clashes so far, of which the Bleus won the game for third place in 1958 , but lost in 1982 - only on penalties  - and in 1986 in the semi-finals.

Remarks

1. ↑ see the list on fff.fr
2. ↑ see the article “Une liste de 23 sans surprise” from May 13, 2014 at francefootball.fr
3. ↑ see the articles "Mandanda cancels for Brazil" at francefootball.fr and "Mandanda cancels, Ruffier at the 23" at fff.fr, both from May 18, 2014
4. ↑ see the article from June 6, 2014 on the association's website
5. ↑ see the article "30 for the beginning" of March 26, 2014 at francefootball.fr
6. ↑ see the article "With the Hotel JP, the national team is more modest than in Knysna" from May 30, 2014 at lefigaro.fr
7. ↑ http://www.francefootball.fr/news/Les-bleus-ont-choisi-de-diviser-leurs-primes-par-trente/469831

Web links

• The national team on the side of the French association FFF (French)