World Cup 2014: France's Didier Deschamps wary of Germany
- Published
France's last World Cup win over Germany was the 6-3 third-place play-off victory over West Germany in 1958
France coach Didier Deschamps says Germany's big-match experience may be a factor in Friday's World Cup quarter-final in Rio de Janeiro.
Germany have reached the semi-finals of the last three World Cups and Deschamps accepts that Joachim Low's side may have the edge because of their history in the tournament.
"Germany are very accustomed to this competition," said Deschamps.
"Experience is more on their side, but we will play our game."
Previous France-Germany World Cup meetings | |
|---|---|
West Germany 3-6 France. Gothenburg World Cup 1958 third-place play-off | Just Fontaine scores four goals to take his tally to 13 for the tournament - still a World Cup record |
West Germany 3-3 France (aet, Germany won 5-4 on pens), Seville World Cup 1982 semi-final | A game remembered for goalkeeper Harald Schumacher's controversial challenge on Patrick Battiston, but France were 3-1 up in extra time before substitute Karl-Heinz Rummenigge and Klaus Fischer brought it back to 3-3. Schumacher saved penalties from Didier Six and Maxime Bossis as West Germany won the shoot-out |
West Germany 2-0 France. Guadalajara World Cup 1986 semi-final | A mistake by France keeper Joel Bats allowed Andreas Brehme to open the scoring with a free-kick, then Rudi Voller doubled the lead in injury time. |
Deschamps and goalkeeper Hugo Lloris both feel Friday's quarter-final at the Maracana Stadium is an opportunity to avenge previous defeats to Germany in the competition.
On Wednesday, France's daily sports newspaper L'Equipe printed pictures of the infamous 1982 semi-final,, external when West Germany won on penalties but only after France defender Patrick Battiston suffered a broken neck after a challenge by goalkeeper Harald Schumacher.
West Germany also beat France in the 1986 semi-final in Mexico, but Deschamps says that his players will not be weighed down by history and are excited by the opportunity to record a World Cup win over their neighbours.
"There is no pressure on the players," he said. "History is what has been and tomorrow we will maybe write a new page in history."
Lloris added: "There is a long history between both nations but, as far as we are concerned, we live for the present moment. We want to write our own history."
Watch France v Germany live on the BBC
France have been impressive in the competition so far, with group stage victories over Switzerland and Honduras and a comfortable last-16 win over Nigeria, while Germany needed extra time to beat Algeria in the last round.
However, Germany coach Joachim Low says the best is yet to come from his team.
"We haven't shown a consistent level of performance so far," he said.
"Teams like Ghana and USA had nothing to lose and everything to win, this game is different.
"We have not yet delivered our best possible performances, that is still to come."
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