France's World Cup win means nothing now – Koeman

Les Bleus’ triumph at Russia 2018 will not help them when they tackle the Netherlands on Sunday in Paris

France’s World Cup triumph will have no impact on Sunday’s Nations League clash with Netherlands, Ronald Koeman has warned.

Didier Deschamps’ side host Oranje in Paris in their second match in the competition, having drawn 0-0 with Germany in Munich on Thursday.

Koeman is full of admiration for the way France won their second World Cup in Russia, a competition for which the Dutch failed to qualify.

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However, he is confident they can deliver a vastly improved result compared to their last trip to the French capital in August 2017, when they lost 4-0.

“France deservedly won the World Cup,” he told a news conference. “It’s a great achievement, but also a thing of the past. It’s now up to us to have a good game against the world champions and get a result. Everything that has already been and gone no longer counts.

“What happened then has no value on the here and now. The team have to be more compact than then, we have to be very good and everything has to be right. And we shouldn’t make any mistakes against this kind of opposition.”

Netherlands beat Peru 2-1 in a friendly match on Thursday, in which Wesley Sneijder made his final international appearance.

The playmaker is the latest of the Dutch stars from the 2010 World Cup finalists to retire, but Koeman believes there is a new generation of talent that is beginning to show a similar sort of promise.

“Of course, the generation with players like Wesley Sneijder, Robin van Persie and Arjen Robben was fantastic,” he said. “Now, I still see a number of young players heading in the right direction. And that’s a difference compared to a while back.”

Memphis Depay scored both goals in the win over Peru and the Lyon forward admits he is growing in confidence at international level under Koeman.

“What I do and keep doing is no different to what I did,” said the former Manchester United man.

“I don’t put any extra pressure on myself now I’m wearing the national team shirt. We have a good team and we have to complement each other as players.

“Of course, if you score two and win the match, it gives you a good feeling. The confidence I get from the coach is certainly important. We’re building, it feels good and the players feel good next to each other.”