Two world footballing giants go head-to-head in this friendly as France host Spain. Pity it’s a meaningless friendly though.
France kept up their three-point cushion over Sweden at the top of Group A on Saturday night as they beat neighbours and minnows Luxembourg 3-1. There was a brief scare for three minutes or so as Luxembourg’s Aurelien Joachim scored a penalty to make it 1-1 in the 34th minute, however, Antoine Griezmann scored a penalty for France three minutes later to relieve the tension.
However, despite the fact they won, the French probably should have been beating Luxembourg by more than a two-goal margin and kept a clean sheet – although I appreciate penalties can happen. This has pretty much been the story of France’s qualification campaign so far and they have really not kicked into life. Having said that, at this stage it is all about getting the job done. They are certainly been doing that and no French fans will complain if they use their saved energy in Russia next year.
Les Bleus are back on home soil for this match where they have a good record with no defeats since their Euro 2016 final loss against Portugal – although even then they were technically the away team. In terms of friendlies, France have a good home record with no defeats on home soil in their seven friendly matches since June 2015, winning six of them.
Spain made it three wins on the bounce last time out as they recorded a comfortable 4-1 victory over Israel to keep themselves top of the group. They are currently in first position by virtue of goal difference over challengers Italy and, with it looking like a straight fight between those two Mediterranean sides, September’s fixture between the two is huge.
As you would expect from such a great side, Julen Lopetegui’s side have been fantastic in both boxes with 19 scored – the joint-second most in European qualification – and just two conceded.
Friendlies are not the Spaniard’s forte, particularly away from home with just one victory in their last six friendly matches outside of their own country – although they are unbeaten in their last four.
I think we will be in for a fairly dull match here with a lot of experimentation from both managers making for a drab affair as players look to avoid injury going back to their clubs. The first half in particular will be incredibly boring and, therefore, ‘First Half Draw’ stands out at 11/10.
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