It was a busy day of World Cup qualifying playoffs in Europe and around the World today, Thursday, but there were no Chelsea players involved in any of those games.
(A few familiar ex-Chelsea faces did pop up, with Armando Broja playing 30 minutes as Albania were eliminated by Poland, Ethan Ampadu captaining Wales to 2-1 defeat against Bosnia, and Graham Potter guiding Sweden to a 3-1 win over Ukraine.)
Only our Malo Gusto and two of our Brazilians (Estêvão was not called up on account of his recent injury) were in action today, with Gusto and Andrey Santos getting the start and João Pedro coming off the bench in France’s 2-1 friendly win against Brazil. Gusto started at right back for Les Bleus and played almost the entire match. Meanwhile for Brazil, Andrey started alongside Casemiro in midfield, and would play the entire 90 minutes, with JP coming on for Gabriel Martinelli around the hour mark.
France took the lead through Kylian Mbappé in the first half before seeing Dayot Upamecano sent off early in the second. But that didn’t matter as they’d score a second and then hold out for the eventual one-goal victory.
Plenty of quality talent on display from both sides despite the slightly experimental lineup from ex-Chelsea favorite Carlo Ancelotti, though it was perhaps another ex-Chelsea favorite, N’Golo Kanté who stole the show with this tackle on a current Chelsea favorite, João Pedro. NG’s still got it!
See More:
* [Chelsea FC: International Duty](/chelsea-fc-international-duty)