New Chelsea signing Loic Remy grabbed the only goal as France squeezed past 2010 world champions Spain 1-0 in a friendly at the Stade de France on Thursday.
The second-half substitute netted in spectacular style in the 72nd minute, pouncing on a pass from Mathieu Valbuena to give Didier Deschamps’ team a deserved victory.
Vicente del Bosque’s new-look Spain side, who suffered a shock first-round exit at this year’s World Cup in Brazil, lacked creativity in midfield and never looked threatening up front.
France, who are to host Euro 2016, left it late to score, but showed some of the quality that took them to the last eight of the World Cup.
“It was a good night. We needed to keep the spirit of the World Cup,” Deschamps told a news conference.
“There were some quality moves. We made a good start, then we suffered a lot for at least 20 minutes, but we regained the upper hand in the second half,” he added.
While the hosts benefited from the power of Paul Pogba and Moussa Sissoko in midfield, Spain sorely missed Xabi Alonso and Xavi, who have retired from internationals, as well as the injured Andres Iniesta, and had no shots on target.
Deschamps made one change from the team that started the World Cup quarter-final against eventual champions Germany, with Sissoko taking Yohan Cabaye’s place in midfield.
Vicente del Bosque decided to bring in Manchester United keeper David de Gea for Real Madrid’s Iker Casillas, who had a nightmare World Cup.
Spain, who also brought in Raul Garcia and Mikel San Jose, failed to shine, while Remy’s clubmate Diego Costa looked a shadow of his usual self in attack.
Karim Benzema had a goal for France ruled out for offside five minutes into the second half after he beat De Gea with a clever flick from a cross by Sissoko.
Valbuena then went just wide in the 64th minute following a pass from Blaise Matuidi.
Former Queens Park Rangers striker Remy, who came on for Antoine Griezmann just before the hour, finally broke the deadlock with a curling, first-time shot from 18m.
Second-half substitute David Silva had Spain’s best chance in the 83rd minute when his low cross-shot went narrowly wide.
Champions Spain start their Euro 2016 qualifying campaign against Macedonia in Valencia on Monday in Group C, which also includes Ukraine, Belarus, Slovakia and Luxembourg.
“I think there were some positives,” Del Bosque told the Spanish TV broadcaster Cuatro.
“We couldn’t win the game, but I think we put on a good show,” he added.
“The important thing [in the first half] was that we created things, we had possession, we knew how to control the game and we didn’t feel stretched at any point. Overall it was a good test for Monday’s game,” he added.
France’s next match is a friendly in Serbia tomorrow.
Four-time NBA all-star DeMarcus Cousins arrived in Taiwan with his family early yesterday to finish his renewed contract with the Taiwan Beer Leopards in the T1 League. Cousins initially played a four-game contract with the Leopards in January. On March 18, the Taoyuan-based team announced that Cousins had renewed his contract. “Hi what’s up Leopard fans, I’m back. I’m excited to be back and can’t wait to join the team,” Cousins said in a video posted on the Leopard’s Facebook page. “Most of all, can’t wait to see you guys, the fans, next weekend. So make sure you come out and support the Beer
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was