France Fall To African Giants In WC Warm-Up…

(Photo by Xavier Laine/Getty Images)

France 1-2 Ivory Coast

France suffered a 2-1 defeat to Ivory Coast in their first World Cup warm-up clash on Thursday evening.

Les Blues coach Didier Deschamps went for an attacking line-up by including Kylian Mbappe, Michael Olise and Manchester City star Rayan Cherki, while Ousmane Dembele and Desire Doue were named on the bench

For the Elephants, Manchester United winger Amad Diallo was only named on the bench but reported-Liverpool target Yan Diomande was given a start.

France had to wait until the 45th minute to find the breakthrough as Cherki found the back of the net with a lovely finish in the box.

Ivory Coast pulled themselves level eight minutes after the break when Nicolas Pepe did well to pick out Guela Doue, who controlled well before firing into the back of the net.

The African giants managed to get the winning goal with six minutes left on the clock as Amad sent a first-time finish into the far corner from Guela Doue’s cross.

France will have one more warm-up clash against Northern Ireland on Monday before their opening game against Senegal.

Spain 1-1 Iraq

Spain were held to a 1-1 draw by Iraq in their first warm-up encounter on Thursday.

Lamine Yamal was not included in the Spain squad as he continues his recovery from a hamstring injury.

The European champions took the lead after 16 minutes courtesy of a strike from Barcelona forward Ferran Torres.

The lead did not last long as Iraq pulled themselves level in the 27th minutes thanks to Merchas Doski’s strike.

Spain will face Peru next Tuesday in their final friendly.

Sweden 2-2 Greece

Sweden continued their preparations for the World Cup with a 2-2 draw against Greece on Thursday evening.

The visitors took the lead through Konstantinos Tsimikas on 10 minutes before Viktor Gyökeres and Gustaf Nilsson completed the turnaround for Sweden in the second half.

The Greeks managed to secure a draw thanks to a 95th minute strike from Georgios Masouras.

Related tags