Germany and France will contest a re-run of the Euro 2016 semi-final when they go head-to-head in an international friendly on Tuesday.
Joachim Low’s side, who were beaten 2-0 by the host nation in that aforementioned encounter last summer, were held to a 0-0 draw by England on Friday night. It was an open and entertaining encounter at Wembley with chances for both sides, but neither was able to land a decisive blow and record a victory. After easing through their World Cup qualification group with 10 wins from 10, the Germans will be grateful for another chance to test themselves against high calibre opposition, with France also among the favourites to triumph in Russia next summer.
Les Bleus were comfortable in their most recent outing, beating Wales by two goals to nil at the Stade de France. Like Germany, France qualified for the World Cup by topping their group, but their campaign produced significantly more question marks ahead of the tournament in 2018. There can be no doubting the quality of the individuals at Didier Deschamps’ disposal, but France remain a work in progress when it comes to fashioning a unit that is at least equal to the sum of its parts.
Germany remain without Manuel Neuer, Thomas Muller, Shkodran Mustafi, Julian Weigl and Leon Goretzka, who were all left out of Low’s latest squad for various reasons. Emre Can, Julian Brandt, Niklas Sule, Sebastian Rudy, Sami Khedira and Sandro Wagner all began Friday’s match against England on the substitutes’ bench and could come into the team for this one, while Low may experiment with a different formation having employed a 3-4-2-1 setup at Wembley.
France’s squad does not contain Hugo Lloris, N’Golo Kante, Thomas Lemar, Tiemoue Bakayoko, Benjamin Mendy and Dimitri Payet, who are either currently injured or only recently recovered from fitness issues. Nabil Fekir is pushing for a start after his fine recent run of form for Lyon at club level, with Anthony Martial, Alexandre Lacazette, Steven N’Zonzi and Florian Thauvin also holding out for an opportunity to impress Deschamps.
This is a difficult match to call – at least until the starting line-ups are announced – but a score draw looks the most probable outcome at this stage.
