On June 25, the French national team played their last match in the group stage at the FIFA World Cup. The rival of the Europeans in Quartet E was the players of the Ecuadorian team.
Ecuador's sbona needed a win or a draw for the hopes of continuing the struggle in the playoffs. At the same time, the South Americans had to hope for a favorable outcome of the parallel match between Switzerland and Honduras. The French, having solved the problem of reaching the next stage of the World Cup, put on the field far from the starting lineup. Perhaps this was the reason for the somewhat faded play of the Europeans.
The first half was boring. The teams created few dangerous moments. It must be admitted that the French were superior to their opponents in terms of ball possession, but this did not give Didier Deschamps' team anything. The Ecuadorians sometimes sought to quickly counterattack.
From the first half, you can remember only two dangerous moments at the opponents' goal. At first, Pogba after a corner kicked dangerously with his head, but the Ecuadorian goalkeeper rescued his team, reflecting the blow. Ecuadorians in one of the attacks after the flank canopy disturbed the goalkeeper of France, but even then the ball did not end up in goal. The Ecuadorian player closed the pass with his head, but the audience never saw the goal.
In the second half, I remember the removal of the captain of the Ecuadorians Antonio Valencia at the 50th minute. But even before that, right after the start of the half, the French could have scored, but the post played for the South American goalkeeper.
After gaining an advantage, the European team began to attack with large forces, but this did not bring the audience joy from the goals they saw.
The result of the meeting is 0 - 0. These numbers on the scoreboard fully reflect the specifics of the match, in which the spectators of the stadium in Rio de Janeiro saw few beautiful and high-quality attacks.
The French take first place in Group E with seven points, and Ecuador is heading home as Switzerland won their match against Honduras.
