For the first time since the 2018 World Cup, coach Didier Deschamps had to make many changes to the squad for the friendly match against Bolivia. This is considered an important rehearsal before France entered the first round of matches of the EURO 2020 qualifiers. As stated by coach Deschamps, although it was just a friendly match, France still put on the field an extremely strong squad with a series of "class A" players such as Pogba, Mbappe, umtiti, Pavard, Varane, Griezmann.
PSG goalkeeper Areola replaced Lloris in goal. Lucas Digne revived at Everton after being bought out of Barca to take on the left-back position that was often held by Lucas Hernandez. Tanguy Ndombele, a Lyon midfielder, had a very successful 2018-2019 season and maintained stability until the end of the season, replacing Kante.
Thauvin and Lemar were chosen to replace Giroud and Matuidi in attack. With a strong force that did not need to discuss the home field advantage, France easily overwhelmed Bolivia completely under pressure right after the opening whistle. In the 5th minute, Lemar took advantage of Griezmann's favorable pass, the ball delicately opened the score.
After the early goal, France played as easily and almost had a goal to increase the gap when Samuel umtiti's header was broken right on the goal line.
It was not until the 43rd minute, after a series of missed opportunities, that France found a second goal thanks to Griezmann. Before that, in the 39th minute, Digne crossed the ball beautifully from the left wing, Griezmann jumped high and shook his head, but the Bolivia goalkeeper flew to save the goal beautifully. This time, Griezmann took advantage of the opponent's confusion in defense to score from close range.
After the first half, right in the nature of a friendly match, France soon made some adjustments in terms of personnel. The most regrettable case is the case of Kylian Mbappe. The PSG star was suddenly injured and forced to leave the field at the beginning of the second half to make way for Ben Yedder. However, it is likely that this is not too serious a damage.
With more energy for the upcoming matches in the Euro 2020 qualifiers, the slower France plays towards the end of the second half. The game was therefore lackluster and there were no more notable situations until the final whistle. The reigning World Cup champions had a smooth victory to firmly enter the Euro 2020 qualifiers.
