Thursday March 28, 2024
Soccer Football - International Friendly - France v Chile - Stade Velodrome, Marseille, France - March 26, 2024 France's Olivier Giroud celebrates scoring their third goal REUTERS/Sarah Meyssonnier Purchase Licensing Rights
France rallied from an early deficit to beat Chile 3-2 thanks to goals from Youssouf Fofana, Randal Kolo Muani and Oliver Giroud in a friendly at the Stade Velodrome on Tuesday.
The visitors' early pressure paid off as they opened the scoring after six minutes with a low shot from Marcelino Nunez following a fine passing move from the right.
But Fofana equalised for France in the 18th minute when Kylian Mbappe set him up on the edge of the box to fire past goalkeeper Claudio Bravo off a deflection from the defence.
"We got that first goal (equaliser) early on in the game and it was good to come back, which we weren't able to do against Germany," France boss Didier Deschamps told TF1 referring to Saturday's 2-0 loss to Germany.
"These are friendly matches and even though it's the French team our opponents put in a lot of energy and we had less. It's good to win but some of the things we did were a bit hard work."
Kolo Muani put the hosts in front with a close-range header from Theo Hernandez's pinpoint cross in the 26th minute before Giroud sealed the win in the 72nd, extending his tally as France's all-time top scorer to 57 goals."Pretty tight game. We were determined to respond after the match against Germany," said Kolo Muani. "We were able to step up both offensively and defensively.
"Every match is important but above all it's a collective effort. It's all good if I'm on the pitch but everyone showed their class today."
The South Americans pulled one back eight minutes from time through Dario Osorio's long-range strike but could not prevent their first defeat under new coach Ricardo Gareca.
"I think we played a very solid game, we competed at the highest level and I think that's what we have to take," Chile captain Bravo told ESPN.
"We have the players, we have the capability and I think this game was very useful to measure what we can do. In general terms we're happy."
Reporting by Janina Nuno Rios in Mexico City; Editing by Ken Ferris