France, world champion and title holder of the League of Nations, punctuated its June rally without any victory. Monday on the lawn of the Stade de France, the Blues lost 0-1 to Croatia in a remake of the final of the 2018 World Cup. The French are last in group A1 and can no longer qualify for the Final Four . Luka Modric scored, in the 5th minute, the only goal of the game on a penalty conceded by Konaté. The Croats, thanks to an excellent middle trio of Modric, Brozovic and Kovacic, then mastered the rest of the first act. The second saw Ivusic prove decisive by stopping attempts by Mbappé (61) and Benzema (90 + 4). Solid defensively, the team at the checkered flag could have widened the gap but Maignan repelled a shot from Majer (72nd).
France ends an incredible series of 23 ranked matches by scoring at least one goal, since a defeat against Finland in a friendly on November 11, 2020 (0-2). Coming off the bench, Antoine Griezmann also joined Zinédine Zidane with 108 caps, the 6th total in the history of the Blues.
Simultaneously, Denmark won 2-0 against Austria at the Parken Stadium in Copenhagen. The Danes relied on goals from Jonas Wind and Club Brugge player Andreas Skov Olsen to secure an easy victory.
Kasper Hjulmand’s troops lead with nine points, ahead of Croatia (7) and Austria (4). Last with two small points, France will have to reverse the trend if they want to avoid the switch to Ligue B.
Nations League: the rankings
