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France defender Patrice Evra has told his teammates to "wake up" ahead of their Euro 2016 quarterfinal against Iceland on Sunday. Les Bleus have yet to score in the first half at Euro 2016 and have relied on gutsy second-half performances to secure results. Evra, however, believes France need to take control of the game from the off from now on, or risk being eliminated from the competition. "We react instead of taking the initiative," Evra told a news conference. "I get the impression that we only play well when we have our backs to the wall. I hope we're going to start [the game] well and not wait until the second half before we step on the accelerator." Evra fears another stifled performance might prove costly against Iceland. "We should be telling ourselves that one day it won't come off for us, and that it might be against Iceland," he said. "We need things to be boiling up inside us -- we need to wake up before the game." France needed an 89th-minute winner from Dimitri Payet to beat Romania 2-1, then last-gasp goals from Antoine Griezmann and Payet to see off Albania 2-0. Against Republic of Ireland in the round of 16, they overturned a 1-0 halftime deficit to win 2-1. "I can't repeat exactly what was said [at half-time against Ireland]. But we've had enough of just reacting," Evra said. "What you can't take away from us is that we keep going until the last second. But we can't rely on that." Evra is expected to start at left-back against Iceland at the Stade de France on Sunday, despite injuring his hand in training. Although he required treatment following a collision with Moussa Sissoko late in Wednesday's session, Evra has made light of the hand injury.
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