Text/Yangcheng Evening News All-Media Reporter Liu Yi This morning, the fourth round of the UEFA Nations League Group A1 reenacted the 2018 World Cup finals, but the results were very different from four years ago. France lost 0-1 to Croatia at home, with Modric taking a penalty

Text/Yangcheng Evening News All-Media Reporter Liu Yi

This morning, the fourth round of Group A1 of the UEFA Nations League reproduced the 2018 World Cup finals, but the results were very different from four years ago. France lost 0-1 to Croatia at home, with Modric taking a penalty kick and scoring the only goal of the game. France, the 2018 World Cup champion, has been winless in four consecutive rounds. The defending UEFA Nations League champion is not only determined in advance to miss the qualifying, but is even at risk of being relegated.

The first of the four UEFA Nations League A-level groups advances to the semi-finals, and the bottom team in the group is relegated to level B. France is at the bottom with 2 points from 2 draws and 2 losses, Denmark ranks first with 9 points, Croatia has 7 points and Austria has 4 points. The UEFA Nations League will take a break after four rounds. The fifth and sixth rounds will be held in late September. France will first face Austria at home and challenge Denmark away in the final round. If France plays with a more serious attitude, there is still hope of relegation.

This game became a duel between Real Madrid stars, with Benzema facing off against his good partner Modric. French coach Deschamps deployed a 4-4-2 formation. Benzema is the winner of both the Champions League and La Liga Golden Boot awards. His strike partner Mbappe won the Ligue 1 Golden Boot award and the assists title. Croatia uses a 4-3-3 formation, with captain Modric's midfield partners Brozovic and Kovacic.

77,000 fans poured into the Stade de France, but France did not show its home momentum. Only 4 minutes into the game, Croatia took a corner kick and did not pose a threat. Benzema got the ball and prepared to launch a fast break. However, Israeli referee Greenfield blew the whistle and whistled for French central defender Konat pushing Croatia forward Budimir in the penalty area, and Croatia received a penalty kick.

Modric took the penalty kick. France's No. 2 goalkeeper Maignan from AC Milan fought hard to save the ball. Although he hit the ball, he could not prevent it from entering the net.

Croatia fell behind 4-17 in the number of shots in this campaign, and only trailed 3-4 in the number of shots on target. In fact, Croatia's shot was more threatening. If Maignan hadn't made a world-class save in superb condition, France might have conceded more goals. Although France has a lot of shots, they often fall short.

The French midfielder's ability to organize offense is not strong, and the two world-class forwards Benzema and Mbappe have no support. It seems that due to the turmoil of Mbappe playing tricks on Real Madrid in the transfer market, Benzema and Mbappe do not have much contact with each other, and they cannot have the tacit understanding they had when they helped France win the UEFA Nations League championship last year.

In the UEFA Nations League finals last October, France was not only strong, but also showed an aggressive momentum. In the semifinals, France fell behind 0-2 and eventually defeated Belgium 3-2; in the final, France reversed Spain 2-1, with Benzema and Mbappe scoring a goal each. Mbappe won the Golden Boot Award in the UEFA Nations League finals with two goals and two assists, and Benzema was named the best player in the finals.

In the new UEFA Nations League group stage, France performed weakly. They were reversed by Denmark 1-2 at home, tied 1-1 by Croatia away from home, tied with Austria 1-1 away from home, and lost 0-1 at home to Croatia. . French coach Deschamps said after the game: "These games have been very difficult for us. We lacked enough energy and strength, and our opponents performed better. We also had some bad luck, but the main reason for our poor record was our opponent. The game lacks freshness”