Authors of a failed start to the match, the French players lost in Dortmund on Tuesday, against a Germany which badly needed this success (2-1).
Football is a sport played eleven against eleven and in the end, Germany wins. The famous saying had taken a turn for the worse in recent months, thanks to the crisis experienced by German national football. It regained its brilliance, Tuesday September 12, during the friendly match won by the Nationalelf at Signal Iduna Park in Dortmund against the France team (2-1), thanks to goals from Thomas Müller (4th) and Leroy Sané (87th), against a penalty from Antoine Griezmann (89th).
Nine months before the Euro which will be played here in Germany, the Blues had the opportunity to gauge themselves after a perfect start to the year – five victories in five matches, zero goals conceded – with this prestigious poster. The poor German results and Sunday’s dismissal of the coach, Hansi Flick, made Didier Deschamps’ players the big favorites for this meeting, an a priori unbalanced duel between two teams with opposing forms.
A completely failed start to the match
The Germans’ successful start to the match and Thomas Müller’s goal in the middle of a totally apathetic French defense after just four minutes of play, however, suggested the opposite. A friendly match is always difficult to analyze and the lessons to be learned from it must be put into perspective. It should be noted that Kylian Mbappé remained on the bench, that France started with six changes compared to the match against Ireland, with Adrien Rabiot as left midfielder.
But the Blues especially started the meeting badly, like Benjamin Pavard. Others showed a confusing technical clumsiness on certain passes, like Jean-Clair Todibo, guilty of Leroy Sané’s goal (87th), and whose first selection will be far from memorable. Despite the approximations and doubts, the Blues still regained the upper hand in the middle of the second period, thanks to the incessant adjustments of a hyperactive Deschamps on his sidelines.
The first French strike came late from the feet of Randal Kolo Muani (30th), well muzzled during the match. The new Paris Saint-Germain striker was also unhappy, slipping when he wanted to catch a shot from Aurélien Tchouameni repelled by Marc-André Ter Stegen (57th). The goalkeeper also saved his team on the head of the French midfielder (38th) and on a curling shot from Antoine Griezmann (82nd).
Germany regains color
The latter, usual brain of this French team, appeared below despite his penalty converted at the end of the match (89th), and this also explains the French defeat. Opposite, Germany obtained from this match what the interim coach, Rudi Völler, called for: to arouse euphoria among its supporters, while the gloom reigned in recent days nine months before their Euro.
While we could have expected a hostile atmosphere, the crowd at Signal Iduna Park supported their players from start to finish and this reminds us that in Germany, only one thing counts: victory. The German players were able to enjoy an ovation at the end of the match by taking a lap of honor, under the light rain that fell on Dortmund at the end of the evening. Perhaps the beginning of the German renaissance. France will have to recover from this first post-World Cup defeat during its next match against the Netherlands, on October 13, in the Euro 2024 qualifiers.