Three things that stood out in France against Denmark: Dembélé and Mbappé are outstanding – Tuchel is happy at home

Kylian Mbappé allowed himself a brief moment of jubilation. At the final whistle, the world’s most expensive footballer threw up his arms, then he whipped his fists at the many French fans in the 974 Stadium.

“It was a tough game against a strong team. Now it’s ideal for us to be qualified before the last game,” said national coach Didier Deschamps. “That gives us peace of mind.” The starting position is “parfait”: perfect.

But not only Mbappé got a cream day.

Three things we noticed.

1.) Thomas Tuchel is happy at home

Should Thomas Tuchel have followed the highly exciting duel between France and Denmark, his heart should have opened up.

On the Équipe Tricolore side, Mbappé was not just a player he knew well from his time as a PSG coach, but also an old companion from Dortmund, Ousmane Dembélé.

If things got dangerous against the compact Danes, one of Tuchel’s former protégés was usually involved. The wingers of the Scandinavians, Joakim Maehle and Rasmus Kristensen, were regularly overwhelmed, especially with the pace of France’s wingers. This was also the case in the 61st minute, when Mbappé made it 1-0 for the French after a good combination with Theo Hernández.

Even more striking was Dembélé, who played cat and mouse with his opponents on the right for 75 minutes (then replaced by Kingsley Coman), driving them mad with his inimitable hooks.

“It just makes you want to watch him,” enthused “ARD” expert Thomas Hitzlsperger at half-time. By then, Dembélé had already been involved in five shots on goal.

The fact that the offensive star of FC Barcelona, ​​in contrast to Mbappé, who also scored the decisive 2: 1 in the 86th minute, did not enter the scorer on the match report sheet, was mainly due to his teammates. Adrien Rabiot (21st) and Mbappé (40th) missed good chances after fine preliminary work by the 25-year-old.

Oh yes, speaking of Thomas Tuchel: Not only on the French side did former players of the currently clubless trainer know how to convince. Andreas Christensen scored the interim equalizer for Denmark (68′). Tuchel had formed the 26-year-old into a world-class central defender during his time at Chelsea.

2.) France defies curse and feared opponents

In France, despite the 4-1 win against Australia in the opening round, there was fear of the duel with Denmark. The world champion curse was – at least in the media – a topic in the Grande Nation and hung over Didier Deschamps’ team like the sword of Damocles.

With Italy 2010, Spain 2014 and Germany 2018, the defending champions failed in the group stages of the last three World Cups.

A fate that Les Bleus averted with the statement win against Denmark after the second group game. The round of 16 is certain. Instead of worrying, France can now even comfortably consider resting some top stars against Tunisia on Wednesday in the last group game.

“I have to correct myself, today was absolutely world class. From the team performance, but also from the individual players,” praised Sami Khedira, who had put a question mark over the reigning world champion before the tournament started. Also because of the many injured top stars like Paul Pogba and Karim Benzema.

The fact that France removed the last doubts against Denmark of all places also had a particularly sweet aftertaste. After all, Kasper Hjulmand’s team was seen as something of a nemesis for the Blues. The Danes had won the last two direct clashes in the Nations League.

This time, however, France laughed again. “Well deserved”, as Michael Ballack said on “Magenta-TV”: “They played well in both games and underlined their ambitions to go far again here.”

3.) Dark Horse Denmark cornered

Not only because of the two victories against France in the Nations League, Denmark was traded as a dark horse before the tournament in Qatar. Even at the 2021 European Championship, when the Hjulmand team stormed into the semi-finals, the Scandinavians knew how to impress with disciplined defensive football and quick transitions.

The Danes are pursuing this same approach in Qatar – but with less success. In the first group game against Tunisia, the secret favorite allowed an unusual amount and was even happier with the 0-0 draw than the outsiders.

It’s a similar picture against France: Les Bleus scored a total of 21 deals, leaving a few top-class chances in addition to the two goals. Denmark, who this time did without the experienced Simon Kjaer in the defensive back three, didn’t always seem solid. In the 20th minute, after an emergency brake against Mbappé, Christensen was lucky that he only saw the yellow card instead of the red card.

In the final group game against Australia (3 points), the Danes (1) now absolutely need a win to still reach the round of 16.

The offensive gives hope, which, in contrast to the start against Tunisia, seemed much more agile and dangerous this time, which Frankfurt star Jesper Lindström, who was rotated into the starting XI, also played his part in.

“We’re looking ahead, we have a final on Wednesday and we have to win,” said national coach Hjulmand confidently despite the tricky situation: “We’ll do everything for that.”