Canada draw with France; Italy beat Bosnia; Wales hammered in Slovakia
France draw with Canada; Italy beat Bosnia; Wales hammered in Slovakia
The final friendlies ahead of the European Championships took place tonight.
France struggle to draw with Canada
France 0-0 Canada
Didier Deschamps will need to get his French side up to speed quickly after they struggled to a 0-0 draw with Canada in Bordeaux.
Les Bleus had all of the shots on target but could not break down the Maple Leafs, who enjoyed slightly more of the possession in an impressive performance.
There were only half-openings for Olivier Giroud (in his final game on home soil), Ousmane Dembélé and Marcus Thuram, and not even the introduction of Kylian Mbappé could help them break the deadlock.
At this stage, getting fitness right is the main thing but Austria will have been encouraged viewers ahead of their clash with the European Championship favourites next Monday.
Frattesi the difference as Italy see off Bosnia
Scorers: Frattesi 38′
Italy 1-0 Bosnia
Italy saw off Bosnia and Herzegovina 1-0 in Empoli with a performance that was far more dominant than the scoreline might suggest.
Luciano Spalletti’s side dominated both possession and the chances throughout the game but needed an acrobatic volley from Davide Frattesi seven minutes before half time to seal the win.
It could and should have been more with Gianluca Scamacca, in particular, wasting a few chances. The Atalanta striker was impressive again nonetheless as he looks set to lead the Azzuri’s line in Germany.
The Italians will kick off their quest to retain their EUROs title with a game against another Balkans country, Albania, on Saturday.
Slovakia make light work of Wales
Slovakia 4-0 Wales
Scorers: Kucka 45′, Boženík 56′, Ampadu (OG) 60′, Bénes 90′
Slovakia prepared for their European Championships opener against Belgium next Monday in perfect fashion, comfortably defeating Wales 3-0 in Trnava.
They opened the scoring on the stroke of half-time just as Wales had grown into the game. The ball came to Juraj Kucka outside the box and his speculative effort went past an unsighted Danny Ward.
11 minutes after the break, Slovakia doubled their lead. David Hancko whipped in a low cross for Robert Boženík to sidefoot home.
It was 3-0 and game over four minutes later, Ethan Ampadu deflecting Lukas Haraslin’s volley into his own net.
A fourth was added by Laszlo Bénes in the final minute as the Slovaks enjoyed the dream farewell ahead of the tournament in Germany.
