Deschamps’ Half-Time Team Talk Inspired Comeback Victory Vs Moldova – Giroud

French forwards, Olivier Giroud and Antoine Griezmann have said a half-time team talk from Didier Deschamps was the reason for their comeback victory vs Moldova.

Because of Turkey’s goalless draw vs Iceland in Group H’s early match, France had sealed their spot at Euro 2020 before Thursday’s clash at Stade de France.

However, Clement Lenglet’s early mistake caused Moldova’s lead, even if Raphael Varane took advantage of an error from Alexei Koselev to equalize.

A better 2nd-half display came from France, but Lucas Digne had to draw a foul from Veaceslav Posmac to secure a late penalty that Giroud scored.

Speaking after the game, Olivier said the coach gave them some tough love during the break.

His words, “I could have, we could have scored well before the penalty,”

“We did not start as we should have done. We had a lack of aggression in everything we did, in the duels, in the decision-making and in the desire to do things right.

“In the second half there was much more intensity and accuracy with much better intentions so we created many opportunities.

“You have to know how to have solutions, that’s what the coach stressed at half-time and he wanted more movement from our forwards.

“We tried hard to listen to him and offer more solutions in this area of our game and we created many opportunities.”

Griezmann also said, “It’s true that we did not have a good match, especially in the first half,”

“The coach at half-time boosted us so we reacted a bit. Even if it showed that we were not well, especially in front of goal, we went on to get this victory.”