New Delhi: France will host one of their oldest rivals, Belgium in Parc olympique Lyonnais for UEFA Nations League 2024-25. Coming into matchday 2, Les Bleus lost to Italy on their home turf while Red Devils won 3-1 over Israel in neutral ground in Hungary.
Despite seizing a lead in record-breaking 13 seconds, France couldn’t turn the lead into a win as Azzurri took three points to their name. The match came alive at the first minute, when Bradley Barcola scored his country’s fastest goal. However, by halftime Italy had equalised. After the break, Italy found the back of the net twice, winning the first time in 70 years in France.
Didier Deschamps side didn’t have the best of Euros 2024 despite reaching the semi-finals. With the loss in the opening match, the side is under pressure of producing an underwhelming performance again. Though, under Deschamps, France had won the second edition of the Nations League, their last outing in the tournament saw them come third in their group after collecting only five points friom the six matches.
UEFA has brought a new format this season where in the team that will finish at the bottom of League A will face relegation to the League B and the third-placed teams will be part of a relegation play-off. Only the top pair of Group 2 will qualify for the newly introduced quarter-final stage. France are already three-points deficit and have to play with everything on line for them.
Belgium come into the draw with a lot of confidence having won against Israel 3-1. Captain Kevin De Bruyne continued his inspiring form with his side as he scored a brace with Youri Tielemans having doubled Belgium’s just three minutes into halftime.
Domenico Tedesco’s team face the same opponent that had engineered their round of 16 in the Euro 2024 just over two months ago. Tedesco though started his stint with Belgium in a promising fashion, the Euros performance wasn’t the ideal and his tactics received a lot of criticism. So the Belgium manager would be hoping to secure the top-two spots in their Nations League group.
Belgium were unable to reach the Nations League finals in the previous edition. In order to show improvement they need to improve their best performance of 2021 when they were placed fourth overall and till date it is their best result.
Team News
Michael Olise received his maiden call for the senior team after an impressive outing with France at the Olympics. Bayern Munich winger featured in the starting XI, though Ousmane Dembele will be a contender for Olise’s position as well. With exception of Barcola, Deschamps has kept faith in most of the squad that he took to Germanyt for Euros. However free agent Adrien Rabiot and Inter Milan’s Benjamin Pavard were axed from the squad.
Having conceded thrice in the last game, Jules Kounde and Dayot Upamecano could be promoted from bench, with both Randal Kolo Muani and Marcus Thuram giving the squad a different attacking option.
In Belgium’s squad, Real Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois has been absent from the team having refused to play under Tedesco while their all-time top scorer Romelu Lukaku has been rested. Their defense star Jan Vertonghen has stepped down from his nation team, while Leandro Trossard hasn’t been selected. Most of the squad is young as Tedesco wanted youth players to get a chance.
So Maxim De Cuyper, Arne Engels and Julien Duranville were featured in the game against Israel. With Lukaku missing, De Bruyne has been paired with Jeremy Doku to support striker Loi Openda in the front.
Head to head
The two teams first played against each either in 1904 and are one of the oldest international football rivalries. Belgium have won 30 times and played 19 draws. France have won 27 times and have won back-to-back three of their last encounters with Belgium.
Predicted XI
France:
Maignan; Kounde, Saliba, Konate, T. Hernandez; Kante, Zaire-Emery; Dembele, Griezmann, Barcola; Mbappe
Belgium:
Casteels; Castagne, Faes, Theate, De Cuyper; Onana, Tielemans; Bakayoko, De Bruyne, Doku; Openda
Where to watch
France vs Belgium will be live broadcasted on Sony Sports Network and live streamed on SonyLiv at 12:15 A.M. IST, 9th September 2024. Cyprus vs Kosovo will be broadcast at 9:30 PM IST. Turkey vs Iceland and Slovenia vs Kazakhstan will be broadcast at 12:15 AM IST.
Early Predictions
France have recently shown great form against Belgium and even though, they lacked the intensity on field against Italy, the hosts will bounce back at their backyard. The results could favour them to win 2-1 against Belgium.
UEFA Nations League 2024/25: France will try to continue their dominating recent form against Belgium as the hosts try to move on from their match day 1 loss against Italy. Football Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
