Kazakhstan 0-2 France: Dembele scores after two-year hiatus as France cruised to a comfortable win

Ousmane Dembele scored on his first start after a long-hiatus as France picked up their first win of the World Cup Qualifiers.

Barcelona winger Ousmane Dembele scored on his first start since 2018 as France cruised to a comfortable 2-0 win against Kazakhstan.

The defending World Cup Champions were held back to a draw in their opening game against Ukraine.

Didier Deschamps handed Dembele his first start while the 23-year-old enjoyed a few minutes as a substitute four days ago against Ukraine.

Dembele, perhaps, provided the breakthrough in the 19th minute, with Anthony Martial setting up the goal. Paul Pogba played a through ball to his Manchester United team-mate Martial, who then did an exquisite turn before assisting Dembele.

The visitors doubled their lead just before half-time after Kazakhs defender Serhiy Malyi found his own nets.

Deschamps’ side could have piled more pressure on the hosts but PSG ace Kylian Mbappe missed a penalty in the second half.

Hugo Lloris wasn’t troubled at all as Kazakhstan managed only one shot on target in the entire ninety minutes.

France have moved to the top of their respective group and will face Bosnia and Herzegovina in their next Thursday.

Dembele’s upturn in form would be a huge boost for Deschamps and he would be certainly a player to watch in the international break and also for the Euros. The biggest question is whether the Blaugrana winger would be able to nail down a starting spot for the European Championship.

???? Dembele has scored his first goal for France since his goal vs Italy in 2018 pic.twitter.com/y5Eei6Ljj7

— ‏ً (@DembouzNewz) March 28, 2021

Ousmane Dembélé‘s game by numbers vs. Kazakhstan:

100% shot accuracy
53 touches
3 take-ons
2 shots
2 shots on target
2 crosses
1 chance created
1 goal

His first goal for France since June 2018. pic.twitter.com/6MaCgUYtVM

— Squawka Football (@Squawka) March 28, 2021

FULL-TIME 9️⃣0️⃣

???????? Kazakhstan 0-2 France ????????

⚽️ 19': O. Dembele (0-1)
⚽️ 44': S. Malyi (0-2) O.G.
❌ 75': K. Mbappé (missed pen.)

???? xG: 0.13-3.08
???? Possession: 36-64
???? Shots: 4-15
???? Passes: 340-636#KAZFRA #France #WCQ pic.twitter.com/4umZt9jfUQ

— RouteOneFootball (@Route1futbol) March 28, 2021

Line-ups

Kazakhstan

Alexandr Mokin, Sergiy Malyi, Nuraly Alip, Temirlan Erlanov, Ruslan Valiullin (Maksim Samorodov), Marat Bystrov, Askhat Tagybergen, Vladislav Vassiljev (Elkhan Astanov), Serikzhan Muzhikov (Yan Vorogovskiy), Maxim Fedin (Yerkebulan Tungyshbayev), Azat Nurgaliev (Ramazan Karimov).

Substitutes

Timur Dosmagambetov, Stas Pokatilov, Abzal Beysebekov, Aleksandr Marochkin, Ramazan Orazov, Daniyar Usenov, Mukhamedjan Seysen.

France

Hugo Lloris, Clément Lenglet, Kurt Zouma, Lucas Digne, Léo Dubois, Antoine Griezmann (Wissam Ben Yedder), Tanguy Ndombele (Moussa Sissoko), Paul Pogba (Adrien Rabiot), Anthony Martial (Kylian Mbappé), Thomas Lemar, Ousmane Dembélé (Kingsley Coman).

Substitutes

Olivier Giroud, Steve Mandanda, Raphaël Varane, Mike Maignan, Lucas Hernández, Benjamin Pavard, Ferland Mendy.