Euro 2016 Championships
Date: Thursday 7 July 2016
Time: 20:00 BST
Venue: Marseille
Live Stream: Watch Germany vs France online
France are in the semi-finals for the first time since 2000 and Les Blues seem to have hit their fifth gear just at the right time. Throughout the group stages, France looked shaky and unconvincing, with individual heroics and late goals kept them going.
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Everything fell into place – fluidity, balance, flair – when N’ Golo Kante was subbed against Ireland in the round of 16 midway in the second half. Didier Deschamps tinkered with his system: Antoine Griezmann played off the striker and Paul Pogba took the anchoring role. It has got the best out of Pogba and Griezmann that saw France beating Iceland 5-2 in the quarter-finals.
Ahead of the semi-final clash with Germany, Deschamps has a key decision to make: whether he will stick with the 4-2-3-1 system or bring Kante back to add extra protection in the midfield and change the winning combination.
Defender Adil Rami is available for selection after missing out the last game through suspension but he may find it hard to get back into the starting XI after Samuel Umtiti’s solid display on his international debut.
Germany started with a five-man defence against Italy, possibly out of respect, but Joachim Lowe is unlikely to use the same template against France. They were disappointing against Italy and came through victorious via penalty.
The Germans are missing several key players for this tie: Mario Gomez and Sami Khedira are ruled out for the rest of the tournament. Manchester United midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger is also a major doubt for this game. In such a scenario, Low could ask either of Emre Can or Julian Weigl to partner Toni Kroos at the base of the midfield.
Mats Hummels picked up his second booking of the tournament against Italy and he is suspended for this tie – the Bayern-bound defender is likely to be replaced by Benedikt Höwedes at the heart of their defence.
Germany Predicted starting XI: Neuer, Kimmich, Howedes, Boateng, Hector, Kroos, Can, Gotze, Ozil, Draxler, Muller
France predicted starting XI: Lloris, Evra, Koscielny, Umtiti, Sagna, Matuidi, Pogba, Payet, Griezmann, Sissoko, Giroud
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