France’s poor defense already an open secret at Euro 2016

The Stade de France was the stage and Dimitri Payet was the leading man.

France looked set to be disappointed in their attempts to win the opener as the game headed towards injury-time – until the intervention of the magical Payet.

Giroud had France’s first real opportunity in the 11th minute only to head Payet’s cross inches wide.

Iordanescu said it would be hard to select players for their next game against Switzerland after his first XI left it all out on the pitch.

“Payet, having had a poor first half by his high standards, especially the final ball, was very good throughout the second half and the goal that won the match was absolutely superb”.

A Bogdan Stancu penalty put Romania level and they looked like leaving with a share of the spoils before Payet struck his stunning late victor, beautifully curling a left-foot shot into the top corner of the net to delight the home fans.

Romania team to play France: Sapunaru, Chiriches, Grigore, Rat, Pintilii, Hoban, Popa, Stanciu, Stancu, Andone.

The clearest chance of the half for France came in the 13th minute when Paul Pogba pass opened up the Romanian defence.

Romania started well and should have had an early lead through Stancu, who found himself unmarked at the back-post in the fourth minute to connect with a flicked-on header, but his shot from point-blank range was straight at Hugo Lloris.

Iordanescu was nonetheless delighted by his side’s efforts, the unfancied Eastern Europeans frustrating the tournament favourites and hosts while also creating some decent chances themselves in a 2-1 loss in Group A at the Stade de France.

Receiving the ball on the cusp of the Romanian penalty area, Payet took one touch before firing a curling left footed strike beyond the helpless goalkeeper Ciprian Tătăruşanu and into the top corner. “If someone had told me it would have gone like, that I wouldn’t have believed it”. Patrice Evra foolishly and needlessly stuck a leg out in the box to give away a penalty, which Bogdan Stancu slotted away calmly.

They have players who can keep the ball in midfield and dictate the tempo of the game.

“Tonight you saw a man who was hurt”.

Olivier Giroud has now scored eight goals in his last six starts for France. That’s some return for a player not even in the France squad at the start of this season. However, the team managed to make a better match than anyone expected, which makes the fans wait confidently for the next matches against Switzerland and Albania.