France vs. Brazil 2015: Final score 3-1, Seleção sweep away French challenge

The first half was delightfully uptempo, with France winning the possession battle and Brazil breaking forward aggressively when they were on the ball and creating danger with virtually every possession. France’s defense, anchored by Raphael Varane and Mamadou Sakho, held firm, and they were the ones who created the first big scoring chance of the match, when Jefferson banged in to the goalpost and got tangled up in his own net after parrying a close shot from Karim Benzema.

The bruise from that goalpost encounter may have left Jefferson a step slow soon after, when on a corner Varane was the man rising above the crowd -- and barging over a teammate -- to hammer home a header and give France an early lead. Brazil responded well to going down, starting to hold more possession and pick apart France’s resolute defense, slowly picking them apart while trying to find the chance for an equalizer.

That chance finally came in the last few minutes before half time, and it almost seemed to come from nothing. Roberto Firmino -- who was making his first start for the Seleção -- was on the ball coming in to the box with two French closing him down and two others in position ahead of him in the penalty area. That’s when he noticed Oscar making a supporting run, and a deft touch put in right in to the Chelsea player’s path, allowing him to slot home with ease to level the scoreline for Brazil.

France’s desperation to score only grew after falling behind, and the pressure seemed to start to get to them. They had a couple very good-looking chances to score, but struggled to put the ball on target to properly challenge Jefferson. They kept committing more and more players forward in attack, often leaving them stretched out against the counter. One of those Brazilian counters lead to a corner kick just before the 70th minute, and the French defense seemed almost to switch off as the ball swung in, giving Luiz Gustavo far too much time and space to nod the ball off the pitch in front of Mandanda and in to the goal.

The 3-1 lead seemed to take some of the wind out of France’s sails. Brazil were mostly content to sit back and absorb pressure with a two-goal advantage, and France struggled mightily to break them down. Nabil Fekir was admirable in his France debut off the bench, but even the Lyon man’s energy and talent couldn’t find a chink in Brazil’s armor.

You could really tell that France were missing Paul Pogba, with the midfielder out for the next several weeks with an injury suffered in Juventus’ last Champions League match. His sheer quality and drive in midfield has been at the heart of France’s recent good form, and having him on the pitch would have made a huge difference at both ends of the pitch for his national side.

They didn’t have him, though, and no matter what Didier Deschamps tried to break down Brazil, France just couldn’t get the job done. The first half was very even and promising, but Brazil’s speed and insane attacking quality won the day in the end for Dunga, and French fans left the stadium with more questions than answers after the 3-1 defeat. They’ve still got a very good side that should easily challenge when they host Euro 2016, but they’ll need to be much better than they were Thursday against Brazil if they truly want to try to beat the best sides in Europe.

Goals: Varane (21’)

Goals: Oscar (41’), Neymar (57’), Luiz Gustavo (69’)