Raphael Varane Capitans France to Round of 16

Real Madrid defender Raphael Varane will head to the Round of 16 with his national team. Here’s a look at France’s status in the group stage and who they will play moving forward.

Centre-back Raphael Varane got the opportunity to Capitan his national team in the final match of the group stage. Despite the 0-0 draw, France will progress to the Round of 16 in the 2018 World Cup. With two wins and a draw, France earned themselves the top spot in Group C.

Real Madrid fans were ecstatic to see their 25-year-old center back leading his national team. Having such a senior role at such a young age shows the strong character of Raphael Varane. At a first glance it may seem odd, but when you take into account that he already has over 200 caps for Real Madrid and four Champions League titles it makes perfect sense. Here’s a look at the match recap and who France will face in the next round.

Match Recap

France played their final game of the group stage against Denmark who also advanced having finished second in the group. It was quite a calm game in terms of disciplinary actions as the referee handed out just one yellow card. Both managers sought to change the rhythm of the game by using all their substitutions.

Les Bleus dominated possession with a near 70-30 split, but even with all that time on the ball, they were unable to break down Denmark. Demark registered half as many shots as their opponents but had only one less than France did on target. France’s passing was crisp in comparison to Denmark with an 87% completion rate.

Despite finishing the group in first place France has a lot to consider after their last game. France dominated in nearly every statistic that is kept track of but failed to put the ball in the back of the net. They fielded five world-class attackers over 90 minutes and were unable to score a goal.

This seems to be a recurring problem for France as they have scored just three goals in this year’s World Cup thus far. Prospective Real Madrid player Nabil Fekir though did pose quite the threat coming off the bench.

In defense though, France seems to be in great hands with Raphael Varane leading the back line. In the game against Denmark, he had eight clearances, all of which were aerial duels. Varane had 99 touches and made 88 passes with a 93.4% completion rate, the second highest in the game.

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Round of 16

France will take on Messi and Argentina in the Round of 16 on June 30. Argentina narrowly made it out of the group stage as they faced Nigeria in their final match. A late goal by Marcos Rojo saved Argentina’s blushes by scoring in the 83rd minute of the match to take the lead.

Les Bleus should be able to progress into the Quarter Finals as Argentina has been far from their best. Argentina finished the group with just four points after being stunned by Luka Modric’s Croatia in their second game. France has scored the same number of goals as Argentina, with low scoring efforts it seems that the game will come down to the team with better defense.

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