France slump to 2-0 defeat against Finland
Finland spoiled Marcus Thuram's party on Wednesday after beating France 2-0 on your day the Borussia Moenchengladbach attacker emulated his father Lilian Thuram by making his debut for Les Bleus.
Thuram was picked by Didier Deschamps for the friendly at the Stade de France over 22 years after his dad won the World Cup at the same ground, but despite a strong performance on the left wing could not stop the Finns from developing on top.
The 23-year-old hit the bar with less quarter-hour gone and immediately after flashed a hard volley over as he and Lucas Digne caused continual problems down the left flank for the away side.
However, Marcus Forss stunned the hosts when he collected the ball after a Moussa Sissoko mistake and rammed home at Steve Mandanda's near post.
France barely had any moment to react before Onni Valakari doubled the away side's lead with a stunning effort after being left to stroll towards goal.
Deschamps brought on Antoine Griezmann, Anthony Martial and N'Golo Kante just before the hour mark but cannot breakdown the well-organised Finns.
The result will disappoint Deschamps but he'll likely have been happy with the performance of Thuram, who made more of the feeling than a few of the competent international players on display, including Paul Pogba and Olivier Giroud.
"It was a good first half regardless of the goals," Thuram told TV channel M6.
"I'm learning a whole lot alongside the other internationals... also to gain as much experience as possible. I hope that may continue."
He could be in contention for World Cup holders France's upcoming Nations League matches against European champions Portugal and Sweden.
Deschamps said last week that the son of his old France teammate had "risen a level" since joining Moenchengladbach from French side Guingamp in July 2019.
Thuram has scored 3 x in 11 appearances for the Bundesliga side this season and was the first footballer in Germany to have a knee in protest following death of the 46-year-old African American George Floyd in police custody in Minneapolis.
Lilian Thuram may be the most-capped player in the history of the French national team with 142 appearances and as well as winning the '98 World Cup also triumphed alongside Deschamps at Euro 2000.
Cristiano Ronaldo heads the ball against Andorra. Photo: Twitter
Ronaldo continues goal quest
Cristiano Ronaldo continued his quest to snatch the all-time record for some international goals when he struck his 102nd Portugal goal within their in a 7-0 win over Andorra.
France's opponents on Saturday in what is actually a Nations League A, Group 3 decider strolled post their weak opponents in Lisbon despite not starting an individual player from the team that beat Sweden 3-0 last month.
Ronaldo missed that match after testing positive for coronavirus and was introduced at half-time on Wednesday, but had to wait until there were only 5 minutes remaining to improve his record bid with a close-range header.
Former Iran striker Ali Daei holds the record on 109 goals.
Italy extended their unbeaten streak to 20 games after a second-string line-up comfortably beat Estonia a 4-0.
Vincenzo Grifo scored his first senior international goal with a long-range drive in the 14th minute and Federico Bernardeschi put the hosts two goals ahead 13 minutes later when he drifted in from the right and crashed a minimal shot past Marko Meerits in the Estonia goal.
Grifo stepped up and scored his second from the penalty spot when Roberto Gagliardini was tripped with a quarter-hour remaining and Riccardo Orsolini added a fourth also from the location four minutes from the end to complete the rout.
Frank de Boer's await an initial win as Netherlands coach continues on after his team drew 1-1 with Spain in a friendly in Amsterdam on Wednesday.
De Boer has gone four matches with out a victory since being appointed in September to succeed Ronald Koeman, who left to dominate at Barcelona.
A first-half goal by Benfica striker Luca Waldschmidt sealed Germany a 1-0 make an impression on the Czech Republic, while two Michy Batshuayi goals helped Belgium to a 2-1 victory over Switzerland.
