France qualifies for the 2022 World Cup

(Paris) The Blues and Kylian Mbappé will defend their title in Qatar: flamboyant winners of Kazakhstan with a quadruple from the Parisian striker at the Parc des Princes on Saturday (8-0), the French world champions have validated their ticket for the World Cup – 2022 before the end of the playoffs.

“Kyky” could hardly have made more people happy than on that November evening.

He aroused the ecstasy of the 45,500 spectators at the Parc des Princes, quickly reassured his coach Didier Deschamps, who had asked for vigilance from the start, and also delighted Karim Benzema, double scorer, by delivering him a decisive pass ( 59^e).

Even the Qatari owners of PSG must have had a satisfied eye on the meeting: the Parisian’s quadruplet, registered on the lawn of the club in the capital, European showcase of Doha, had its share of symbols, one year before the World Cup organized in the emirate from November 21 to December 18, 2022.

“A World Cup is a dream, a goal, that’s all, and it’s a unique chance to be able to play in a team that can win it”, satisfied Mbappé, 22, on M6. .

Twenty-eight years after the last failure of the Blues in the qualifying phase, in this same stadium against Bulgaria (2-1), the France team can measure the progress made.

Coman stirring

Since that debacle of 1993, she has qualified for all 14 major tournaments that followed.

Validating their ticket on the penultimate day has the advantage of offering the Blues peace of mind for the trip on Tuesday (8:45 p.m.) to the 2^e of the group, Finland.

This also confirms the newfound standing of the selection of Didier Deschamps, unbeaten in these qualifiers: she is one of the first to qualify for Qatar, with Germany, Brazil or Belgium.

After the title in the League of Nations, this ticket comfortably off the hook gives a little more weight to the thesis of the accident in the eighth of the Euro, these famous “ten minutes of distraction” against Switzerland, advanced by the management as an explanation.

At the Parc des Princes, visited for the first time since 2013 by the Blues due to works in the Ile-de-France transport around the Stade de France, Didier Deschamps even allowed himself a tactical innovation, by entrusting the right lane to Kingsley Coman, preferred to Benjamin Pavard.

This worked perfectly. The Bavarian was seen twirling on the right wing and offered two caviars to Mbappé, clinical scorer of the foot (12^e) and head (32^e).

Tributes

From the 6^e minute, he had opened the scoring by combining on the other wing, with Theo Hernandez. Almost identical action resulted in Benzema’s first goal (55^e), new 5^e top scorer in the history of the Blues (35 goals).

The counters start to climb for Mbappé, also a scorer at the end of the match (87^e): the Bondynois now has 23 goals in 52 selections, a record of precocity in the tricolor jersey.

Warmed up by the first two goals of their protégé, the supporters of the France team were able to pay a moving tribute to the victims of the attacks of November 13, six years to the day after the attacks.

A light show was organized and a banner displayed at the 15^e minute of the meeting, at a time when the first explosions around the Stade de France had been heard in 2015, one evening in France-Germany.

A minute of silence was also observed and Antoine Griezmann himself drew a heart under his jersey alongside the date of “13/11/15”, unveiled after his goal from the penalty spot (84^e), which places him alone 3^e top scorer in history ahead of Michel Platini, with 42 goals.

The public was served for 90 minutes, and even after the meeting after a vibrant lap of honor offered by his selection: enough to forget the absence of injury from Raphaël Varane, Presnel Kimpembe and Paul Pogba, well supplied. by Dayot Upamecano or Adrien Rabiot, finally scorer with the Blues, with the head (75^e).

In Finland on Tuesday for a match without accounting stake, substitutes will undoubtedly have the opportunity to show themselves. With Qatar in the viewfinder and the ticket in my pocket.