Ibrahima Konaté with a solid performance for France during their victory in the Nations League 💫

In a Nations League encounter, France defeats Israel despite Mbappe’s absence.

Despite the absence of Kylian Mbappe and Antoine Griezmann’s recent retirement, France defeated Israel 4-1 in the Nations League. In Budapest, where Israel is hosting matches because of the security situation in the Middle East, Eduardo Camavinga and Christopher Nkunku scored goals in the first half. Mbappe and Griezmann aren’t in Didier Deschamps’ starting lineup for the first time since 2016.

In the Nations League on Thursday, France easily defeated Israel 4-1 despite the absence of Kylian Mbappe and the retirement of Antoine Griezmann.

In Budapest, where Israel plays all of its home games because of the security situation in the Middle East, goals in the first half from Eduardo Camavinga and Christopher Nkunku put France ahead.

This was the first team that Didier Deschamps named without Mbappe or Griezmann since 2016.

In order to give the France captain enough time to fully recover from a thigh injury, Mbappe was left out of both this match and Monday’s match in Belgium.

Griezmann’s absence is permanent, as he decided to leave the international stage last week, but the Real Madrid star’s is only temporary.

Griezmann’s departure marked the end of an era for the French team, who went on to win the World Cup in 2018 and qualify for the final in Qatar four years later.

Deschamps’ revamped lineup, led by Aurelien Tchouameni of Real Madrid, had many positive aspects, though. Following their victory against Belgium following their first-round loss to Italy, France now sits second in Group A2, one point behind Italy.

The “significant potential” of his youthful team was immediately emphasized by Deschamps.

“It is through matches like this that they will gain experience for the months to come,” he explained.

Israel is now pointless at the bottom of the standings following their third consecutive loss.

Goalie Omri Glazer, who is recovering from an injury, was selected captain by Israel coach Ran Ben Shimon.

Unfortunately, Glazer’s first touch proved to be inauspicious as the captain mishandled Camavinga’s feeble shot from outside the area, giving France the lead in the seventh minute.

The midfielder for Real Madrid was nearly too ashamed to celebrate scoring his first goal in a match against his country.

Before the break, Omri Gandelman’s blistering header—which needed VAR’s clearance to be confirmed—had tied the score for Israel.

 

 

However, France quickly regained the lead when Camavinga switched to being the provider, his superb help enabling Nkunku to slide home from a tight angle to start his Les Bleus account.

In a way, Camavinga was atoning for an inadvertent wrong, as it was his training altercation with Nkunku that caused the Chelsea forward’s knee injury to keep him out of Deschamps’ 2022 World Cup roster.

Second-half substitutes Bradley Barcola and Matteo Guendouzi gave France the lead after a barrage of late raids.

After some thought, Deschamps said, “I have a favorable perspective — four goals, we haven’t done that in a long.

“We were serious and diligent, with a lot of enthusiasm.”