Rubén Morán was 19 when he made his debut for Uruguay. Nothing unusual in that, though the match was more important than most: it was the 1950 World Cup final, against Brazil, in front of 199,854 people at the Maracanã. Uruguay stunned the world with a 2-1 victory and Morán remains the only player to make his international debut in a World Cup final.

It is hard to imagine anyone in modern football experiencing quite such a volcanic baptism, though the Brazil right-back Zé Carlos did win his only cap in the 1998 World Cup semi-final against Holland. And on Sunday night in Paris, Samuel Umtiti made his France debut in a European Championship quarter-final.

France coast past Iceland and into Euro 2016 semi-final Read more

Umtiti is a fine defender, who will join Barcelona for £24.6m after the tournament, but his presence in such an important game reflects the extent of France’s defensive fragility. He was not so much plan B as plan H, their eighth-choice central defender. They lost five through injury or suspension before the tournament: Raphaël Varane, Aymeric Laporte, Jérémy Mathieu, Kurt Zouma and Mamadou Sakho. That left Laurent Koscielny and Adil Rami – whose suspension gave Umtiti his chance against Iceland – as their centre-back partnership. Rami was not in the original squad and, when he played against Scotland in June, it was his first cap for three years.

A back four who include Bacary Sagna and Patrice Evra, who have a combined age of 68, do not inspire the same confidence as some France defences of the past. The main reason they won the World Cup in 1998 was one of the all-time great back fours: Lilian Thuram, Laurent Blanc, Marcel Desailly and Bixente Lizarazu. They conceded only twice in the tournament and even took care of goalscoring for most of the knockout stages, with Blanc striking the Golden Goal against Paraguay and Thuram scoring twice in the semi-final against Croatia. Even the 1984 team, though best remembered for an exquisite midfield, had a fine defence led by the superb Maxime Bossis.

It is unusual for a France team to be so top-heavy. They have few worries in attack, where there is an in-house competition to win the Golden Boot, but their defence has been unconvincing from the moment Hugo Lloris made a brilliant save to deny Romania’s Bogdan Stancu in the fourth minute of the tournament.

“Presque Parfait” (Almost Perfect) was L’Équipe’s headline after the Iceland match, with the small print highlighting the defence as the only downside. “We had a lot of fun and are very pleased with our performance,” Olivier Giroud said. “We will try to erase some of the small defensive mistakes because against Germany we will be punished.”

It would be wrong to read too much into the second half, when Iceland had a number of chances and scored twice, because the match was already over and had an open, end-of-term feel but it certainly did not alleviate the existing concerns about the France back four. Their weakness at set pieces has been a recurring theme, though Germany’s subtler threat in open play should be their main concern.

Germany beat Italy to reach Euro 2016 semi-finals after epic penalty shootout Read more

The leap from Ireland and Iceland to Germany is considerable and it may suit France to play on the counterattack. They may not have much choice in the matter. Germany’s hypnotic passing game, dictated by Toni Kroos, provides the most intense test of concentration, never mind ability, particularly as it is accompanied by the ghostly movement of Mesut Özil and Thomas Müller. “He’s a very talented player with his passing and his vision,” said Giroud of Özil. “He likes to get between the lines and we’ll have to make sure he’s not at ease.”

That will presumably be the job of N’Golo Kanté, whose ability to gobble up attacks is such that the former Argentina captain Juan Pablo Sorín compared him to Pac-Man. On Thursday Pac-Man will be chasing the ghosts rather than the other way round.

Evra may have a similar job if, as expected, Germany return to a 4-2-3-1 formation and Müller plays from the right wing. They have a number of options and will need to make at least three changes from the team who started against Italy. Mats Hummels is suspended and Mario Gómez and Sami Khedira are injured. Bastian Schweinsteiger, who replaced Khedira, is also doubtful. Germany may therefore include a novice of their own: if Schweinsteiger is unfit, Borussia Dortmund’s brilliant Julian Weigl, aged 20 and with only one cap, may be preferred to Emre Can in midfield.

Germany could still start with seven of the team who humiliated Brazil 7-1 in the semi-finals of the World Cup two years ago. As England know well, the Germans enjoy few things more than turning a party into a wake. They have eliminated the hosts on nine occasions in World Cups and European Championships, six of them in the semi-finals.

France will do well to avoid an overload of hex messages in the buildup to another vital match against their bogey team. They lost 1-0 to Germany in the quarter-finals two years ago, when they played like a team with a mental block, and the traumatic World Cup semi-final defeats of 1982 and 1986 will hang over the match.

There is an alternative interpretation of those past events. Johan Cruyff said every disadvantage has its advantage and France can trump the great sides of 1984, 1998 and 2000 by beating Germany en route to winning a major trophy.

“Germany are Germany, the best side in Europe and indeed the world,” said the France coach, Didier Deschamps. “In this competition, although they had a scare against Italy, they’ve been in control in their games. It’ll be another great fixture but it won’t be a stroll in the park for them. We really have to go all out for it.” That goes for defence as well as attack.