France experienced a disappointing dress rehearsal before the start of the European Football Championship in Germany. Coach Didier Deschamps’ team could only manage a 0:0 draw against Canada in Bordeaux on Sunday. A lack of chance conversion in particular prevented a success for the “Equipe Tricolore”, who will face Austria in their opening Group D match on June 17 in Düsseldorf.
Deschamps left superstar Kylian Mbappe, who has recently been suffering from a slight injury, on the bench until the 74th minute. From there, the striker, who will be playing for Real Madrid next season, saw his team clearly have more chances in a stormy opening phase. Canada goalkeeper Maxime Crepeau was constantly busy, thwarting a chance from N’Golo Kante (8th minute), deflecting a Thuram shot onto the crossbar (9th minute) and was also on the spot for a Griezmann long-range shot (19th minute). In addition, a header from ex-Salzburg player Dayot Upamecano went way over the bar (35th minute).
Immediately after the restart, Liam Millar almost turned the game around, curling the ball from the edge of the penalty area onto the crossbar, Mike Maignan would have been beaten (47′). On the other hand, Oliver Giroud failed to score twice in the penalty area. The Canadians, coached by former Salzburg coach Jesse Marsch, then had another great chance, but Alphonso Davies failed to finish, and William Saliba was able to clear his pass at the last minute (79′).
In injury time, the French winning goal was in the air twice. First, Randal Kolo Muani failed to get a header from six meters on goal after strong work by Coman (91st minute), then Mbappe failed after a solo effort against the again safe Crepeau (96th minute).
