Rotated France brush Colombia aside in friendly as Doue does the damage

Desire Doue scored his first two senior international goals as France sent a message to their FIFA World Cup rivals with an impressive 3-1 victory over Colombia.

The two managers took contrasting approaches to this friendly fixture in Landover, Maryland, with Los Cafeteros boss Nestor Lorenzo making just two changes to the side that started Thursday’s 2-1 defeat by Croatia, while Les Bleus head coach Didier Deschamps named an entirely different lineup to the one that began their 2-1 win over Brazil that same day.

The yellow shirts of Colombia filled the stands of Northwest Stadium, and they were almost treated to a spectacular fifth-minute opener, when Richard Rios’ long-range strike flew inches wide of the post. 

Les Bleus soon took control, and they made their possession count in the 29th minute when they went ahead from their first shot on target, as Paris Saint-Germain forward Doue, 20, lashed home a deflected effort from the edge of the box that wrong-footed Alvaro Montero.

Marcus Thuram then doubled the lead four minutes before half-time, the striker rising to head Maghnes Akliouche’s pinpoint cross in off the crossbar for his first France goal since November 2023.

Thuram and Doue both had chances to further increase the lead before the interval, although Daniel Munoz could have halved the deficit when he dinked just wide at the other end.

Lorenzo made a triple substitution at half-time in an attempt to change the momentum, as Gustavo Puerta, Andres Gomez, and Jhon Cordoba replaced Rios, Jhon Arias, and Luis Suarez.

Colombia were almost handed a lifeline four minutes into the second half when Luis Diaz latched onto Warren Zaire-Emery’s misplaced pass, but Maxence Lacroix - making his first international start - recovered to make a vital challenge.

That moment became even more significant 11 minutes later, when France counter-attacked at pace, and Thuram squared for Doue, who squeezed his shot inside Montero’s near post.

Los Cafeteros gave themselves a glimmer of hope 13 minutes from time, when substitute Jaminton Campaz fired his first senior international goal in off the far post.

Colombia pushed for another goal, but they were unable to mount a comeback as they suffered their second successive defeat, and their fourth loss in seven matches against teams currently above them in the FIFA world rankings (W1, D2).

Kylian Mbappe came off the bench late on for Les Bleus and saw a shot cleared off the line, yet it was France’s fringe players who gave Deschamps something to think about in the final game before he names his World Cup squad, as the two-time winners extended their unbeaten run to nine games (W8, D1).

Flashscore Man of the Match: Desire Doue (France)

Click here for more on the match.

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