MOSCOW: After the first goalless draw at this World Cup, where France’s much-vaunted attack failed to sparkle against a Denmark side lacking any creativity, midfielder N’Golo Kante failed to find fault in his side’s inability to get on the scoresheet.

The stalemate on Tuesday ensured France topped their group ahead of the Danes but it raised questions about their chances of progressing further with an attack that has only scored three goals in three games. France made six changes to their line-up but Antoine Griezmann, Olivier Giroud and Ousmane Dembele all featured in the game which ended with loud jeers from the crowd.

They next face Argentina in a blockbuster round-of-16 clash in Kazan on Saturday.

“I think we played against a very well-organised Danish team,” Kante told Dawn in the mixed zone when asked how France would fare against better opposition ahead. “They were very compact which is why we had this result.

“It’s difficult to analyse from just this one match whether we’re good enough to be champions because we’ve seen [at this World Cup] that the games have been difficult against the so-called favourites. But we will see what we have. Everything can happen.”

There had been reports that Griezmann had forced France coach Didier Deschamps to start him in the match so he could play himself into some form. Kante refused to be drawn on Griezmann’s struggles but admitted the side can do better from midfield to support their star forward. “It’s not about him,” Kante said. “It’s just that we know we can play together and we can do much better. We need to make more chances for him.”

Griezmann, meanwhile, said it was more important that France finished top of their section.

“It’s true that it wasn’t pretty and I’m sorry for the people who expected lots of goals and nice moves,” he told reporters. “We are through and we topped the group … that can be enough. The reality is that no matter the team, you have to beat them to go all the way. We trust ourselves, we know that there are a few things to work on but we’re also confident.”

France’s confidence could also because their run in Russia has many parallels to their sole World Cup triumph in 1998. Then, they also played Denmark and drew in the last round, and were also in Group ‘C’. They had also won their opening two games and booked a spot in the last-16 before the game against the Danes.

However, there was unanimity that France need to improve to have a chance of emulating their glory of 20 years ago.

“Not everything is perfect,” midfielder Blaise Matuidi told reporters. “We will do our best in the last-16. With regard to the last-16, we must play better and we will play the match to win it no matter who the opponents are. We don’t have much time to recuperate and it will be a tough game without a doubt.”

Published in Dawn, June 28th, 2018