Zinédine Zidane’s first game managing France? Yeah, it was a 1-0 win against Türkiye, but honestly, it was pretty unconvincing. And get this: Kylian Mbappé, the guy who scored the only goal, went and injured his left knee doing it. Talk about a brutal trade-off!
What Even Was That First Half?
The Zidane era kicked off at Izmit’s Kocaeli Stadium, and man, France looked like they were still warming up! Zizou started Mbappé on the left wing and Ousmane Dembélé up front as centre-forward. You know those two have been trading jabs recently over the Ballon d’Or race? Well, their understanding on the pitch was totally off, it was rough to watch. France just struggled to click in the first half, period. Türkiye was playing a tight, low block, and while Les Bleus had possession for days, they barely threatened. They were uninspired, wasteful, and okay, fine, the pitch looked kinda sorry, but still. It was late in the half before anything remotely exciting happened, with Rayan Cherki seeing his shot blocked after a sleek move involving Dembélé and Olise. Then Olise actually forced a good save from Cakir aiming for the bottom corner. But still, not exactly fireworks, right?
Goal, Injury, and a Hard-Fought Mess
Türkiye came out swinging in the second half, seriously, they had the bit between their teeth! Mike Maignan had to pull off a remarkable save to deny Ismail Yüksek from putting them ahead. Then, three minutes later, BAM! France finally leaped ahead. Koné forced a turnover in the final third, Olise found a totally unmarked Mbappé, and France’s all-time leading goalscorer logged his 67th international game. Pure class, right? BUT THEN, the absolute gut punch: Mbappé hurt his left knee *while scoring*. He had to be replaced by Désiré Doué, and you could feel the air go out of the stadium. After that, France kinda took their foot off the gas, almost like they just decided to coast to the win. Türkiye, though? They had other plans. Spurred on by their home fans, they cranked up the pressure on France’s error-strewn defenders. Even with Uğurcan Çakır getting dismissed for handling the ball outside his penalty box, Türkiye still made France sweat for that hard-fought win. Dayot Upamecano, usually so solid, was making uncharacteristic mistakes, losing possession cheaply and not looking commanding at all. He even got needlessly booked! Koundé and Rabiot also had rough games, both clocking a 4. It was definitely an unconvincing win to start the Zidane era.
So France gets the win, but they’re gonna be absolutely sweating over the extent of Mbappé’s knee injury. Losing him for any real time would be a disaster. Their task gets even harder on Monday when they take on Belgium in Brussels. This squad needs to get its act together, and fast!
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Yahoo Sports.
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