Batteries charged for last 16, Deschamps says after Tunisia defeat

AL RAYYAN, Qatar, Nov 30 (Reuters) – France coach Didier Deschamps stood by his decision to drastically reshuffle his team for their final Group D game against Tunisia on Wednesday, stressing that key players had recharged their batteries for the knockout phase.Deschamps made nine changes from the team who snatched the qualification for the last 16 with a 2-1 win against Denmark, with notably Kylian Mbappe, Ousmane Dembele and Antoine Griezmann starting on the bench in what ended with a 1-0 defeat.While the defending champions were almost guaranteed top spot in Group D, there is almost no positive to draw from a match in which they were largely overwhelmed with only Ibrahima Konate showing his talent at centre back.”We have 24 players. The 24 won the first two games and the 24 lost the third one,” Deschamps told a news conference.”It will serve us for the next game. Some of the…

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