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France coach Didier Deschamps stood by his decision to drastically reshuffle his team for their final Group D game against Tunisia on Wednesday, stressing that key players had recharged their batteries for the knockout phase.
Deschamps made nine changes from the team who snatched the qualification for the last 16 with a 2-1 win against Denmark, with notably Kylian Mbappe, Ousmane Dembele and Antoine Griezmann starting on the bench in what ended with a 1-0 defeat.
While the defending champions were almost guaranteed top spot in Group D, there is almost no positive to draw from a match in which they were largely overwhelmed with only Ibrahima Konate showing his talent at centre back.
“We have 24 players. The 24 won the first two games and the 24 lost the third one,” Deschamps told a news conference.
“It will serve us for the next game. Some of the players will have recharged the batteries. There were reasons for the players to be rested. Games are now 100-minutes long. These are my choices, and I stand by them. Regardless of the result, we would have to play in four days.”
When is France vs Poland?
The match is on Sunday December 4.
What time is kick-off?
The match will kick off at the Al Thumama Stadium at 3pm (GMT), 6pm local time.
What TV channel is it on?
The match will be shown on either BBC or ITV. Telegraph Sport will also be running a live blog on the game – you can bookmark this page now and return on Saturday to follow along with our coverage.
How have France fared so far?
France made a strong start to the defence of their World Cup title when they beat Australia 4-1 in their opening game. Kylian Mbappe scored once and provided two assist as Olivier Giroud went level with Thierry Henry as the highest scoing Frenchman in their history.
Denmark were expected to provide France’s toughest test of the group but Mbappe was the star man again as he scored twice to send his team into the last-16.
With qualification secured, Deschamps opted to rest his big names and it cost them as they lost 1-0 to Tunisia in their final group game.
How have Poland got on so far?
Poland were unconvincing in their opening match against Mexico with talisman Robert Lewandowski missing a penalty in the goalless draw.
But they gave themselves a chance at qualifying for the knockout stages when they beat Saudi Arabia 2-0 and Lewandowski scored his first goal at the World Cup.
In their final group game, Poland were once again underwhelming as they lost 2-0 to Argentina but fortunately for them Mexico’s 2-1 win over Saudi Arabia was not enough to take second place away from them.
France vs Poland results history
The two teams have met 16 times with France winning eight and losing three. Their last meeting was in June 2011 with France winning 1-0.
What is France’s World Cup record?
France are defending champions, having beaten Croatia 4-2 in the 2018 final at the end of a near faultless run, including victories over Argentina, Uruguay and Belgium.
That was their second World Cup victory following the Zinedine Zidane-inspired triumph, when he scored twice in a 3-0 battering of Brazil in the 1998 final.
However, it was arguably the great midfielder’s head-first assault on Marco Materazzi and subsequent sending off that cost his side in the 2006 final, which Italy went on to win on penalties.
France boast some of the most talented players in the world and possess a particularly fearsome attack. They should ease through their group yet, while it would be unwise to rule them out of winning it again, France have a history of implosion on the international stage. Additionally, no team has managed back-to-back world titles since Brazil in 1958 and 1962.
What is Poland’s World Cup record?
Poland have competed at eight Fifa World Cups, with their debut in 1938.
Their best result was two third places, in 1974 and 1982, but since then they have only broken out of the group stage once, and failed to qualify in 2010 and 2014.
They were knocked out in the group stage at their last World Cup outing at Russia 2018.
At the Uefa European Championship, Poland’s best result was a quarter-final appearance at the 2016 tournament.
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