France went into their third game of the tournament with two wins out of two, needing a point to guarantee a top two spot in Group A, and therefore a place on the final day. Mali had a mountain to climb with only one point after losing to the Czech Republic and then playing out a chaotic 3-3 draw against Mexico in the last round; in that match they had gone 2-0 up, then Mexico scored three without answer, before captain Adama Niane got the equaliser. They even had a chance to win it through Montpellier’s Mohamed Guilavogui late on, but with the ball just behind him in the area, he improvised with a madjer, which rolled just wide of the post.

So – the points difference was maybe not the whole story, and so it proved. In windy conditions that meant floating in freekicks and corners was a haphazard enterprise, Mali’s midfield and attack employed startling changes of pace to sprint in and close down, which left France unsettled, particularly in defence. Olivier Kemen was doing his best to run the midfield, but Florian Escales was starting to look frazzled in one goal, while SC Amiens’ Ousmane Dibatere was doing good work in the other, occasionally charging out of his area to clear the ball high into the stands. Lassana Coulibaly got the first booking of the evening for crashing into Brahim Konate, and France then picked up two yellows in the last ten minutes of the first half as they got frustrated and things started to unravel.

After a goalless first half, Sehrou Guirassy was introduced for Konate for the second. They quickly achieved a man advantage as Coulibaly got a second yellow almost immediately after the restart, and then a relative gift of a penalty as Thomas Robinet went down in the area, tripped, but maybe having first pushed the defender. Souleymane Diarra was booked for contestation as an aggrieved Mali team surrounded the referee, and then Guirassy spurned a great chance to go ahead by scooping the spot-kick over the bar.

France were soon to rue that missed chance as Mali, showing little sign of being down to ten men, took the approach that attack is the best form of defence and pressed higher and higher up the pitch. Just before the hour mark, Niane zipped between two defenders on the right and lobbed Escales with a composed finish. Patrick Gonfalone reacted by bringing on Jonathan Bamba for Roli Pereira de Sa. Mali, emboldened by their lead, kept pushing, Niamankoro Doumbia forcing Escales into a save from a long-range strike.

With ten minutes to go, France finally made a breakthrough, as Bamba made a run up the left and cut the ball back from the goal-line under pressure for Robinet to poke it home. It wasn’t over yet, however, Mali immediately streaking up the pitch to seek to restore their lead, Niane trying another lob, this time hitting the crossbar. France also looked slightly rattled but then Bamba took on the goal-scoring role, his shot taking a slight deflection and looping into the corner to put them ahead. With five minutes to go, France had finally found their mojo, and it was Bamba again who nearly made it three with a dangerous strike that just shaved the crossbar. Mali still weren’t beaten, winning a couple of freekicks late on, but it ended 2-1.

It was an impressive performance from Mali, who played 40 minutes with ten men, and who are better than their single point from three games suggest. You suspect Bulgaria (who haven’t scored yet) might suffer for that on Thursday. It was less impressive from France, who allowed themselves to be put off their game by their opponents, and looked rather disorganised at the back. Gonfalone may have been looking forward to the deciding game against the Czech Republic (as well as managing the high-intensity game schedule) in his selection, and certainly the introduction of Bamba made the difference in focusing the French attack. However they were playing against ten men, and the manager was honest enough after the match to say that the performance had been poor: “we absolutely could not meet the physical challenge imposed by the Malians”.

Whatever those reservations, France got it done in the end, meaning that they only need a point against the Czech Republic on Thursday to top the group and appear in their third successive final. In Group B Paraguay, England and Portugal are level on six points (Portugal having played three games, the others two) and tonight’s Paraguay v England will be another crucial game for setting up the final day match-ups.