Mbappe meets his lookalikes as France take on England

DOHA, December 9

All eyes will be on Kylian Mbappe once again as France take on England in a mouth-watering World Cup quarterfinals clash but the defending champions must hope their lack of options from the bench will not be exposed tomorrow.

1 If England beat France, Gareth Southgate will become the first England manager to take the nation to two World Cup semifinals.

2 Southgate’s side have been ruthless in front of goal, scoring 12 from just 21 shots on target and doubling their expected-goals ratio — while no other side has scored more from open play.

3-2 The last time the two sides met was in June 2017 in an international friendly. France won the game 3-2.

Les Bleus, who are looking to become the first team to retain the title since Brazil in 1958-1962, were hit hard by injuries ahead of the tournament with midfielders Paul Pogba, Ngolo Kante and forward Karim Benzema all ruled out.

Mbappe has been on fire in Qatar, with five goals and two assists, while Olivier Giroud has provided three goals, but they have yet to come up against a world class team.

After wins over Australia and Denmark in their first two matches, France’s fringe players did not cover themselves in glory in a 1-0 defeat to Tunisia to round out the group.

Didier Deschamps’ starting XI features some fearsome firepower up front with Mbappe, Giroud and Ousmane Dembele, while Adrien Rabiot and Aurelien Tchouameni have proved extremely reliable in midfield. Antoine Griezmann has been the perfect link between the lines.

At the back, however, France have issues. Rabiot is well aware of England’s danger in wide areas but predicted they may be more cautious than in previous games.

“They have players who are fast on the wings, full-backs who are very offensive,” he added. “They won’t take all the risks because we can also hurt them on the flanks.” — Reuters