Football
Ian Holyman, France correspondent 9y

Didier Deschamps 'not happy' with France loss against Brazil

Didier Deschamps said he felt his France team could learn a number of lessons from their 3-1 defeat to Brazil in Thursday's friendly.

Deschamps saw his side beaten at the Stade de France after going in front through Raphael Varane's first-half goal.

Chelsea star Oscar equalised before Neymar and Luiz Gustavo struck in the second half to give Dunga's men victory and leave Deschamps to ponder where his team, who reached the World Cup quarterfinals, could improve.

"I'm not happy -- I didn't enjoy that. It had been a while since we had tasted defeat," he told a news conference.


The 1998 World Cup winner, whose last loss had come to Germany in that quarterfinal, added: "But it is to put ourselves in difficult situations, and be forced to do things more quickly and more correctly that we play games like this.

"We have to do better with our passes forward. Brazil had other chances, and we did too, but of course it's a blow.

"I am not happy to have conceded three goals, despite acknowledging the quality of the opponent. We should have been able to avoid the second, which came on the counter-attack, and the third, which was a set-piece."

A lapse in concentration from Varane allowed Gustavo to escape to claim the third to end Les Bleus' hopes of getting back into the game after Karim Benzema, captain for the evening in the absence of the injured Hugo Lloris, and Antoine Griezmann had missed chances to level.

"It was a high-quality game against a high-quality team. We battled, even if we had more possession in the second half," said Deschamps, whose side face Denmark in Saint-Etienne on Sunday.

"In the first, we struggled to link up and sometimes didn't have men available to pass to. We were good on attacking set-pieces to open the score. At 2-1 down, we had two or three chances to get back into it, but the third goal hurt us. Of course we have to improve."

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