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PARIS, March 25 ― France coach Didier Deschamps hinted he would make several changes to his team to face Kazakhstan in their next World Cup qualifier on Sunday to preserve his players' health after a lacklustre draw against Ukraine in their opening game.
The world champions looked short of energy as they kicked off their qualifying campaign with a 1-1 home draw against Ukraine and now face back-to-back matches against Kazakhstan and Bosnia.
“With more freshness and some momentum we could do a lot better but a lot of my players had played in their domestic leagues on Sunday,” Deschamps told a news conference after the Group D game at the Stade de France.
“We needed better legs, some aggressiveness in their area,” said captain Hugo Lloris.
Deschamps said he would need to rest some players on Sunday.
“I'm not going to lie to you there's going to be some changes for the Kazakhstan game,” he said.
“Kazakhstan have not played tonight while we have a long 11-hour trip to get there on Friday for a game that Bosnia (who France face on Wednesday) will watch on TV.”
Just like against Ukraine, Les Bleus are likely to face a team who will try to stay compact and focus on defending.
“Ukraine scored on their only half-chance. They came to defend well. In the 20 Ukraine game I've watched I had never seen them play like this,” said Deschamps.
“But the result means that (Ukraine coach Andriy) Shevchenko was right.” ― Reuters
