(Getty)
France host Sweden at Stade de France on Friday, with the winner taking control of their World Cup qualifying group.
Both teams currently hold seven points in UEFA qualifying Group A, after both teams opened the round with two victories and a loss. It’s a much more impressive feat for Sweden, who have been organized and efficient since Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s retirement. It doesn’t mean much against Luxembourg and Bulgaria, so Friday will be a litmus test for this new era of Swedish football.
France have no lack of talent, but injuries are starting to become a nuisance for Didier Deschamps. The latest is Kingsley Coman, who is out with ankle and knee injuries and will sit out this international break. He’ll be replaced in the lineup by Thomas Lemar, a 20-year old who has been through all the youth stages of international football for France. Lemar is having a great start to his season at Monaco, scoring five goals in his team’s first 12 matches.
Here are the basics:
DATE: November 11, 2016
CHANNEL: ESPN2
KICKOFF TIME: 2:45 p.m. Eastern
LOCATION: Stade de France
LIVE STREAM: Click here for all the live stream information
THE LINEUPS
France: Lloris, Sidibe, Varane, Koscielny, Evra, Pogba, Matuidi, Sissoko, Griezmann, Payet, Giroud
Sweden: Olsen, Krafth, Lindelof, Granqvist, Augustinsson, Durmaz, Johansson, Ekdal, Forsberg, Guidetti, Toivonen
Find out how to watch this match in Spanish at AhoraMismo.com