He said: Some people thought we were the kings of the world after beating Switzerland 5-2 but Ecuador showed they have qualities, and Argentina had a difficult match against Nigeria.
“Nigeria are a strong, fast team who have great qualities and it is going to be a really difficult match and we will have to fight,” Deschamps revealed after watching his team drew with Ecuador.
“My team selection was not by chance and it’s important that all players get into the rhythm. Now we have five days to prepare for our game against Nigeria. “They had a team with 10 players in front of us defending well. We had an enormous number of chances and we are disappointed we were not as effective as in our previous matches,” he said.
However Top striker Karim Benzema has told his teammates to expect a tougher encounter against Nigeria, saying the Eagle’s team are not a pushover.
He said: “There are no easy opponents, we saw this against Ecuador. Now we must rest, recover well and get 100% for the knockout. Nigeria is a good team, it will be difficult but we must do everything to win”, he said.
Nigeria has only met France once in a friendly in Saint-Etienne in 2009, Nigeria won 1-0 by a Joseph Akpala strike.