2018 FIFA WORLD CUP

2018 FIFA WORLD CUP – France vs Peru PREVIEW



Contenders France facing up a Peru side who are facing elimination. A game where France are favoured, but their form doesn’t look convincing enough to see an easy win here. Peru had a very disappointing defeat in the opener after playing great football but failing to convert chances. A game where we should see exciting football with both teams bringing talented, quick players going forward.

FRANCE

France have started their world cup campaign off to a good start with a win, however their performance was slacking. France beat Australia 2-1 after a really weird late goal. France did not create many chances in that game as their front 3 of Dembele, Mbappe and Griezmann were very disappointing. It’s hard to really pick out anyone that played well for France during that game although Giroud did come on and did some great link up play including creating the goal for Pogba. I could see Giroud taking the starting spot from somebody from the starting from 3. France’s full backs need to improve from the first game too as Pavard and Lucas put in very poor performances in the opener, their full backs have been predicted to be a weakness before the tournament and it came through. Now away from the negatives, It’s hard to find any positives from that performance because it was really bad even in a winning effort, but if anything we can make out of that game is that France have shown good grit to dig out a result which they might need to do again.

Coming into this game, we should expect the French attack to show up. Can’t see Mbappe and Griezmann being ghosts again. We could see Giroud get the start in this game, unless Deschamps wants to use him as a super sub striker as he’s very good coming off the bench. The French full backs need to be on their game because Peru are a lot more dangerous than Australia with their quick, creative players as we’ve seen in the first game. The French also need to make sure they don’t have loss of concentration type moments at the back like when Umtiti hand balled in the box the last game when not facing any pressure. If France want to win they just need to improve their all around performance, Peru are a tougher opposition, but hopefully for France they’ll find more spaces going forward as Peru will have to attack themselves. We should see a much improved performance from France.

PERU

Peru were very unfortunate in their opening game. A game where Peru dominated and even had a chance from the penalty spot. However Peru did not take their chances, Cueva skied his penalty and overall Peru wasted a lot of chances. They really deserved to get something out of that game, their attacking players Flores Cueva Carrillo were very dangerous but they just couldn’t find the final touch. Guerrero did not get to start, but when he came on he looked very sharp and had a few chances, so we shouldn’t be surprised if Guerrero started against France over Farfan. Peru were beaten by one moment of magic from Eriksen who played through Poulsen for the winning goal. If Peru can perform the way they did in the opener, then I have no doubt they’ll cause France problems, it’s going to be very tough to recover from that loss mentally, but it will be a great test.

Peru’s backs are against the ball and they are forced to get something out of the game against France. Peru are the underdogs, but they can surprise, especially given the way they performed in the first game. For Peru to win they absolutely have to take their chances, can’t go another game where they don’t score. The French weakness is their full backs and Peru need to make sure to exploit that with Carrillo and Flores on the wings. Peru just need to make sure they are coming into this game with the positive mentality and believing that they can take on France because a win here would put them in a fantastic position to advance as they’d get to face an easier opponent than France in the last game with the same amount of points. They just need to replicate the performance against Denmark, but actually take their chances. They are capable of anything in this game.

Prediction

We should be see attacking football here for sure. Both teams have quick players who can punish defences. France are slightly vulnerable at the back due to average full back play, but their attack should be good enough to punish Peru. I think Peru will put up a great fight and get themselves a goal, but surely France will improve from their first game. The quality in the final third will be the difference in this game and France simply have more of it. Griezmann and Mbappe should be able to put in much better performances as I don’t believe they will have back to back poor games, plus Peru will probably leave more spaces than Australia as they’re more of an attacking minded side. We should expect some goals in this game. France will win 2-1/3-1.

Group Standings

1 France 3 pts +1 GD

2 Denmark 3 pts +1 GD

3 Australia 0 pts -1 GD

4 Peru 0 pts -1 GD

Odds – Decimal (WilliamHill)

France Win – 1.60

Draw – 4.20

Peru Win – 5.00

KICK OFF – 21st June 2018 – 4pm UK Time