France coach lauds team's progress to knockout stage

France head coach Didier Deschamps said he was very satisfied that his team had progressed to the knockout stage in the FIFA World Cup.

A victory against Peru in Yekaterinburg on Thursday night enabled France to top Group C with six points and ensured their place in the list of last 16, reports Xinhua news agency.

"We are in the knockout stages so we are very satisfied," the France coach said in the post-match press conference.

Although there was a lot of criticism of France's performance in the second half, Deschamps emphasized that what really matters was the victory.

"We have won and we have qualified. We have shown beautiful things in the first half and have not conceded goals. We did what was necessary to obtain the second victory," he said.

"In the second half, we suffered a little more because we didn't control the ball enough. We had to defend a lot and we did it with a lot of solidarity," he added.

The coach also praised Kylian Mbappe for his goal in the match, which made the 19-year-old player the youngest French scorer ever in the World Cup.

France will clash with Denmark, who are second in the group after drawing 1-1 with Australia earlier, on June 26 at Moscow's Luzhniki Stadium.

--IANS

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