PARIS: Holders France failed to qualify for the final four of the Nations League when they slumped to a 1-0 defeat at home to Croatia as they stayed winless in the competition on Monday.
The world champions, who have now lost two and drawn two, are bottom of League A, Group 1 on two points, five adrift of Croatia who prevailed thanks to an early Luka Modric penalty.
Veteran Croatia captain Modric stroked in his spot-kick after just five minutes at the Stade de France, and the home side could not find an equaliser despite Kylian Mbappe returning to join Karim Benzema in the starting line-up.
“We had an inferiority complex against France after their win in the World Cup and so to win at the Stade de France in front of almost 80,000 people against the world champions is extraordinary,” said Croatia coach Zlatko Dalic.
Denmark beat Austria 2-0 in Copenhagen with first-half goals by Jonas Wind and Andreas Skov Olsen to stay top on nine points and cannot be caught by France, who are in danger of being relegated, with two games left in the group. Austria are third on four points.
France coach Didier Deschamps reshuffled his team again as he looked to rest players at the end of the season and in all four matches this month never fielded the best possible lineup.
Les Bleus looked short of ideas in a defeat to Denmark plus draws against Croatia and Austria before Monday’s loss to the team they beat in the World Cup final four years ago.
Croatia grabbed the early lead after five minutes when Modric converted a penalty after Ibrahima Konate fouled Ante Budimir. It was Modric’s 22nd goal in 152 games for Croatia.
Mbappe had two opportunitites but it was the visitors who threatened most in the 17th minute through Josip Brekalo.
Deschamps made two changes at halftime, bringing in Aurelien Tchouameni for Boubacar Kamara in midfield and Benjamin Pavard for Jules Kounde on the right flank of the defence.
Mbappe had another couple of chances but Ivica Ivusic saved comfortably as Croatia controlled the pace of the game.
Antoine Griezmann replaced Matteo Guendouzi with 10 minutes left in a last-ditch attempt by Deschamps to salvage a point.
But it proved in vain as France failed to score for the first time after netting in their 23 previous games.
“It was a difficult month of June in terms of results. We did not have the energy and the strength against teams who had more than us,” said Deschamps, who missed the defeat against Denmark earlier this month following the death of his father.
“We lost a bit of self-confidence along the way but it’s mostly freshness that we lacked. When you play so many games it is very, very hard.”
Deschamps’ team may now need to win their last two group games in September to avoid being relegated to the less glamorous League B.
Those matches are also the only games they have left before they begin their defence of the World Cup against Australia in Qatar in November.
“We will need everyone at the start of next season to be in the right frame of mind and in the right athletic condition,” said Deschamps.
In Copenhagen, Wind scored one goal and made another as Denmark cruised tovictory over Austria at the Parken Stadium.
The 23-year-old forward opened the scoring in the 21st minute and Olsen netted the second with a cool side-footed finish after Wind found him in the box with a clever pass nine minutes before the break.
Denmark midfielder Christian Eriksen received a raucous ovation when he came on in the second half a year and a day after collapsing on the Parken pitch due to a heart problem in a Euro 2020 group game against Finland and he almost scored with an 87th-minute shot that was palmed onto the post.
Published in Dawn, June 15th, 2022
