Olivier Giroud and Dimitri Payet both find the net as France leave it late to get the better of Cameroon. Elsewhere, an under strength Sweden stutter to a goalless draw against Slovenia in their penultimate friendly before Euro 2016 gets underway a week on Friday.
France 3 Cameroon 2
The hosts took their record to eight wins in nine friendlies with a last-gasp 3-2 victory over Cameroon in Nantes last night.
Blaise Matuidi opened the scoring with his fourth goal in the last nine for Didier Deschamps’ side and is shaping up to be an overlooked differential. Despite bagging a couple of assists during that run, the 7.0-priced midfielder sits in just 5% of sides in the Uefa game.
Paul Pogba showed just why he’s the most popular player in Uefa (42% ownership) with a stunning assist, whilst Kingsley Coman and Dimitri Payet threw their hats into the ring for starting roles on the wings by bagging an assist and goal respectively. Although Payet’s late free-kick winner hogged the headlines, the West Ham playmaker turned in another creative masterclass and also provided eight key passes, suggesting that he could yet oust Anthony Martial in Deschamps’ starting XI.
Olivier Giroud strengthened his claim for the lone striker role by bagging his sixth goal in the last nine friendlies. Owned by just 5%, the Arsenal frontman – costing 8.5 in Uefa – fired his side’s second on 41 minutes before being replaced by rival Andre-Pierre Gignac on 65 minutes.
At the back, Adil Rami was handed the chance to impress alongside Laurent Koscielny as Deschamps mulls over his options in light of Raphael Varane’s injury absence. Yet to be added to the Uefa game, Rami looks set to battle it out with Eliaquim Mangala (5.0) for a place in the first XI, though France’s recent defensive record is hardly encouraging – they have now conceded twice in each of their last four fixtures.
France XI: Lloris; Sagna, Rami, Koscielny, Evra; Diarra (Kante 46), Matuidi, Pogba (Sissoko 65); Coman (Cabaye 76), Giroud (Gignac 65), Payet.
Sweden 0 Slovenia 0
Sweden were without a number of players including Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Kim Kallstrom, Marcus Berg and Martin Olsson for last night’s goalless draw against Slovenia.
Both sides managed a mere two shots on target apiece, with John Guidetti looking the man most likely for Erik Hamren’s side – partnered by Isaac Thelin up front, he produced three efforts and a couple of key passes over the 90 minutes.
The result means that Sweden have now conceded just twice in their last four fixtures. Fantasy managers looking for a cut-price defender should keep an eye on Viktor Nilsson Lindelof, who seems to have stepped up his case for consideration after previously failing to play any part in the qualifiers. Priced at just 4.0 in the Uefa game, he has now started each of the last three friendlies and could be worth a gamble as a budget enabler if he gets the nod in the final pre-Euros friendly against Wales on Monday.
Sweden XI: Isaksson; Lustig (Jansson 46), Nilsson Lindelof, Granqvist, Durmaz; Larsson, Hiljemark, Wernbloom (Rohden 71), Forsberg (Zengin 46); Guidetti, Thelin.
