Post Match Thread: Austria 1-1 France [UEFA Nations League - Group A1 | Matchday 3]

Although this might not be too worrying for France, it's still a yellow-orange flag.

World Cups are won by your entire squad, and a team is only as strong as it's weakest link. It's not just the main 11 who have to do all the work. Deschamps cannot rely on the same 11 players anyway to play full games all tournament. The World Cup can go up to 7 games in total. Lots of things can happen on the way. Injuries, suspensions, illnesses, extra-time, penalty shoot-outs, fatigue, etc. Lots of unpredictable stuff happens. So, at some point, Deschamps will very likely have to be able to trust multiple B-team players to deliver a good performance.

Schürrle, in 2014, came off the bench as a subtitute multiple times, and he scored the first goal against Algeria in extra-time in the round of 16, and delivered the assist to Götze's goal. Other examples are Tim Krul in 2014 against Costa Rica in the penalty shoot-outs, and Chadli in 2018 against Japan. Also subsitutes, also B-team players, but they played key roles in making their country win a crucial game.

No one doubts France's A-team. We know what they're capable off, but a lack of a reliable bench and B-team, will eventually catch up at some point.

/r/soccer Thread