France kicked off their Euro 2016 campaign in dramatic style as Dimitri Payet’s sensational strike earned the hosts a hard-earned 2-1 victory over a stubborn Romania.
After a goalless but incident-filled first half, Olivier Giroud opened the scoring for Euro 2016 when he headed in from Payet’s cross after 57 minutes following an error by Romania keeper Ciprian Tatarusanu. Romania equalised courtesy of Bogdan Stancu from the penalty spot eight minutes later following Patrice Evra’s foul.
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The game looked to be heading towards a draw, only for Payet to pull a rabbit out of the hat in the 89th minute and find the top corner with his weaker foot from around 25 yards out. His stunning drive sent the Stade de France into absolute delirium and ensured that the hosts – though not convincing – snatched all three points at the death.
We look at the talking points that shaped up a pretty even-stevens encounter at Saint-Denis:
1) Payet or Martial? – You have your answer
When the French starting line-up was released, many pundits were surprised at Didier Deschamps’ decision to start Dimitri Payet ahead of Anthony Martial to the left of Olivier Giroud upfront. With Martial’s fleet-footed skills likely to dominate the left wing, Deschamps was desperate for Payet to shine with his incisive passes and quality deliveries into the penalty area.
He shone, and with bright colours. Critics answered as far as Deschamps was concerned. The West Ham midfielder was at the centre of most of France’s attacking pursuits, getting into good positions and constantly taking control of the attacking third.
He finished the game with an assist for Giroud’s opener and a memorable winner with his weaker left-foot late in the encounter to enter in the running for ‘Goal of the Tournament’. It was a match-winning performance, the perfect display to get Euro 2016 up and running.
2) France struggle to find their fluency against a resolute Romanian defence
Romania finished Euro qualifying as the best defensive side, and that was very evident in the way they set up and allowed France to take the initiative for large periods of the game. They must be credited for maintaining their shape and sticking to their tactics against one of the tournament favourites.
Olivier Giroud was well marshalled by the two centre-backs, while the holding midfielders got right in the face of the likes of Paul Pogba and Blaise Matuidi to ensure that the French were unable to string together a set of slick passes and were forced to rush their moves up the pitch.
They may consider themselves unlucky to end up with nothing in the bag – falling prey to a goalkeeping mistake and a first-class moment from Dimitri Payet.
3) Lloris saves France
Most onlookers expected the home side to dominate proceedings right from the offing, judging from the difference in attacking quality between the two sides. However, it seemed no one told the Romanian players the script - they were the ones who got off the blocks quicker than their French opponents, deploying a high press tactic against a shaky defence, with Adil Rami the expected weak link.
The fact that Rami and Laurent Koscielny hadn’t partnered each other at the back much for France in the past was evident, as a misunderstanding forced them to concede a corner after 2 minutes.
The vulnerabilities in the French defence were now developing into large cracks when they failed to deal with the corner and Stancu had the opportunity to give the Romanians a shock lead, only for his shot from point-blank range to be brilliantly kept out by Hugo Lloris.
Despite keeping the tempo high in the early stages, Romania were unable to capitalise. As the game progressed, chances were hard to come by for them as France gradually found their rhythm and ultimately, the quality to win the game in the end.
4) Giroud’s goal doesn’t cover up for multiple misses during the game
Olivier Giroud may have scored for the hosts, but that was largely due to some bizarre decision making by the goalkeeper and definitely doesn’t make up for the number of chances he failed to pounce upon throughout the game.
Romania’s defensive pair of Vlad Chriches and Dragos Grigore was almost always able to mark his runs and make the clean final challenge to ensure the Arsenal striker was left frustrated in front of goal.
With a world-class striker like Karim Benzema out of the squad and second striker Antoine Griezmann likely to operate from the wings this tournament, Giroud will have to up his game by a gear or two and try to create openings in the opposition defence to earn himself potential goal-scoring opportunities.
5) Paul Pogba fails to live up to the hype
Paul Pogba’s rise from obscurity to one of Europe’s most wanted central midfielders during his time at Juventus made him the primary focal point of France’s Euro campaign. Before the tournament began, fans were expectant of him to be the one who could inspire his side to European success thanks to his wide range of passing and intensity in the centre of the pitch.
However, an underwhelming performance against the Romanians suggested that he was a long way from his peak form. Apart from a couple of passes to feed fullbacks running down the wing and a volley saved by the keeper, Pogba was uncharacteristically flat and did not express himself as the dictator in midfield he has done so often at Juventus.
One will only assume that he will find his midas touch as the tournament progresses, but if France want to go on and win the tournament, players with the quality of Pogba must click sooner rather than later since they bring the much-needed creativity and guile in midfield.
