I thought France controlled, there were some scrappy moments in the French box (most of which would probably never happen if they had a goalkeeper the quality that Germany have). Germany did look good at times and must have dominated the stats. I think that when you watch it you can see that France can improve, I didn’t get that feeling from Germany.
It was definitely clmose even so I never felt nervous after France scored.
You dreaming of Raheem again? 
All the time then! 
Not saying a defeat in your home stadium can ever be described as positive, but it seems there’s a lot for the German team to build on for the next two games. Loved that moment when the fastest player on the pitch could take so much out of the slowest, who then used superior tackling technique to save the day.
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That’s just odd…
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I missed that incident. I was wondering what the talk about love bites and exotic hugs were all about. There we go! Hahahaha
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Agreed. I said last week everyone was writing Germany off before it even started.
They took the “heavy favorites” the entire distance, controlling the match for long stretches, only to lose on a fluky own goal.
It’s just such a difficult group. They’ll have to get something v Portugal.
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thats a perspective im not seeing alot of…i can see you are invested heavily in it so i wont challenge it too much, but i have to say…
no one i know of was ‘writing germany off’. id say it was the exact opposite…no one would ever write germany off.
they did take the ‘favorites’ the entire distance, but given the two teams itd be more of a shock if they didnt…two absolute powerhouses playing in a tournaments opening game ( for each team) you couldnt design a bigger cliche for 0-0, 1-0 type scorelines.
from what i saw…i.e the entire game…france were happy to let germany have the ball…i honestly didnt think it was a great idea and if you let the opposition side have the ball most of the game, and you have Mbappe, Griezman, Pogba, Rabiot and benzema in the team, its a risky game to play…(they defended well, dont get me wrong, but, the point is, they are what they are as players)…then again…they do have Kante…
thought France always had the answer in most cases and couldve picked Germany off a few times…
that said, Germany had plenty to remain positive about…i just dont see this massive underdog angle your playing…
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i wouldnt call the own goal fluky either…as the half time analysis pointed out…he got his body shape all wrong and should have shaped up differently…which sounds harsh, but at that level, its not an irrelevant point
No they don’t. 
“You can never write off the Germans!”
Attributed to every football pundit who ever lived.
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Yes however it’s classic Deschamps, 1st match of the tournament is all about cohesion and communication and did you see how much Deschamps was communicating with his players (this covid situation definitely benefitted France in that sense).
Yes they all excelled in areas where you wouldn’t normally expect even Griezman put in some great tackles. Benzema was very impressive leading any press and buying time. Pogba was extremely disciplined working really well with Pavard. In fact Kanté was the only one that was under par to what you might expect (yet still very good).
Yep, I never felt France looked like conceeding. The back 4 were just fantastic, yes at times I thought one or other had made a mistake only for them to come out on top (Varane particularly).
Personally I thought Germany came at the game too agressively particularly as they appeared so nervous. It played into France’s hands imo and created 4 or 5 instances where the ref could have punished them heavily so early in the competition (Kimmich should have seen red).
Seen so many say Germany have a lot to be positive about but I don’t see that. I felt they were as good as they will get. Of course this is good enough to win it, I just couldn’t see where they could improve. The coach has to read the opposition much better, in this match he needed Kroos much higher up or even play Cann in that role. There really wasn’t any point Kroos playing lovely balls only for Pogba to put an end to it all.
We’ll see, I don’t think Germany will dwell on the own goal even if the media do. Hummels had to do something and with the force of the cross anything could happen. So they just reset and go again.
What are the odds for a Germany Vs France Final?
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I wonder how many times Clive Tyldsley has said that, over the years? It must be thousands.
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Same old France than in previous tournaments: solid at the back, dominant in midfield and opportunistic upfront. They could have won 3-0, as the offside calls were correct, but marginal. Rabiot should have done better with his shot on the post.
An utterly deserved win though. Germany simply couldn’t get through, apart from two occasions when Gundogan’s shot went wide in the first half, and then when Gnabry’s shot went just over the crossbar in the second. I’d have loved to see one of those go in, because we would have had a match then. I still think that France would have won though, they were largely superior on the night and would just have done more to score another goal.
As it was, they were happy to win 1-0, controlled the game in the knowledge that they have a strong defence, well able enough to bring that result home comfortably.
For me, after having seen all other major teams in action, they are the tournament’s favourites by a wide margin. Let’s see if other teams can improve during the tournament, but they’ll have a hard time to go past this tea, which will improve too with more games coming by.
Bottom-line: as far as I’m concerned, the ‘Mannschaft’ has a new name and new colours: Les Bleus. The same competitiveness, the same hardness, and to a degree, the same kind of unimaginative and unattractive efficiency, but with a lot of talent all over the pitch to force the decision in a tight game. Deschamps’ personality is totally ingrained into them after all these years.
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Interesting from France was that it wasn’t really a diamond in the end, or not at least how it was on paper. It was more of a 4-3-3, with Griezmann in the right half space and Benzema centrally doing his job as the 9 or false 9.
I was interested to see how they line up in midfield. Since Matuidi’s departure, France had to invent something new, either get a replacement for him in some capacity or on one of the sides and/or change the structure of the team in midfield/attack.
It looked at times like Pogba was both the RCM in that midfield 3, but also almost like a right winger (as he showed he can do a job on the left side at Juve and United lately), when Griezmann tucked inside more than Mbappe, who looked to expose behind Ginter’s back all night.
I had a few questions how a diamond would look, especially as Deschamps is sticking to his tried and tested back 4, Pavard and L. Hernandez are more what you’d call defensive minded full backs. So it needs to be flexible, width coming from one of them, someone in midfield like Pogba on one side and Mbappe on the other side.
Good game between both boxes, it was lively… but it needed better quality/touch/pass/shot/decision in the final 3rd to create better quality chances.
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Apologies to @Livvy @GermanRed @Neukölln and rarely seen @Werder4life @anon27364116 @Eintrachtfan , I was quietly rooting for Germany.
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Where are my congratulations? 
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I expected worse tbh. It was ok.
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I didn’t see a lot of attacking quality from the Germans. France are the favourites for a reason (even if they are a bit tedious).
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