The Blues are regaining color. We left them on June 13, at the Stade de France, beaten by Croatia (0-1), their fourth game in a row without a win. Heads down, canes worn after a long season, the Blues started the summer in the worst possible way. But they finished it much better, with a victory against Austria this Thursday, September 22 (2-0), in the League of Nations, at the Stade de France.
In its Dionysian lair, the France team found a smile against Austria (2-0) thanks to goals from Kylian Mbappé (56th) and Olivier Giroud (65th). Two months to the day before their entry into the running in the World Cup against Australia, the attractive Blues have above all regained consistency, movement, opportunities, even if better efficiency would have allowed them to obtain a score. wider.
28 – Kylian Mbappé has scored 28 goals for the France team since his debut on March 25, 2017 against Luxembourg, only Antoine Griezmann has done so well over the period. Unstoppable. #FRAAUT pic.twitter.com/7P2pe6WxEc
— OptaJean (@OptaJean) September 22, 2022
It must be said that the current context around the Blues – controversies at the FFF, Pogba affair, image rights – is not at the party. This victory certainly appeased a Didier Deschamps who spent his entire match sitting on his bench watching his players. From this evening, the coach of the France team will obviously remember the victory, but also the two outings during the match of Jules Koundé (alert in the left hamstring) and Mike Maignan (pain in the left calf), which are added to the long list of injuries on the French side.
In the absence of several executives, new players have appeared and convinced, like the first in Blues of Monegasques Youssouf Fofana and Benoît Badiashile. Others have returned, such as Olivier Giroud, absent from the June rally. Present in March, the striker had already scored twice in two games, against Côte d’Ivoire (2-1) and South Africa (5-0). Against Austria, he delivered a decisive pass to Mbappé after recovering a ball in midfield (56th), before heading a perfect cross from Antoine Griezmann (65th).
Now two units from the record of 51 goals in the selection of Thierry Henry, Giroud has scored points for the list for the World Cup. Thanks to his realization, first of all, but also by his back-to-goal game, which is still just as precious. Griezmann could have taken advantage of it in the first period (27th), the Blues then waking up the 70,188 spectators at the Stade de France far from being convinced by the performance of the Tricolores, which recalled in many points the matches of the month of June.
35a & 357j – Thanks to his goal against Austria, Olivier Giroud becomes this evening, at 35 years and 357 days, the oldest scorer in the history of the French team, overtaking Roger Marche (35 years and 287 days in December 1959 against Spain). Briscard. #FRAAUT pic.twitter.com/0u5ORYB3I8
— OptaJean (@OptaJean) September 22, 2022
Mbappé, too, could have converted a caviar from Giroud a minute earlier but, at the end of the race, the Parisian could not adjust Patrick Pentz (26th). Before his goal, the Paris Saint-Germain striker was often messy but, as always, the danger came from him. One of his curled shots did not find the frame (27th), when he had scored after two minutes of play in the same position (2nd). A goal finally disallowed for an offside position.
In their new tunic, the one they will wear during the World Cup, the Blues have above all reassured about their ability to create chances after having often purred during the June matches. Aurélien Tchouameni came very close to scoring with an acrobatic gesture, but Pentz, already imperial against the Blues in Vienna, released the perfect parade (35th). Clauss, he was clumsy in front of goal (51st), like Mbappé (67th, 90 + 1st).
But the Stade de France once again witnessed a few sequences of helplessness from the French players, and the latter also had a defensive scare at the start of the second period on an action from Schlager (49th). Even if Mike Maignan and Alphonse Aréola did not have to make the slightest save, the system with three defenders, back Thursday evening, remains to be perfected. A challenge when there is only one game left for the Blues before the start of the World Cup.
25 – Antoine Griezmann delivered his 25th assist for the France team, equaling Thierry Henry as the Blues’ best assist provider in the 21st century. Altruism. #FRAAUT pic.twitter.com/VF1RyN95XF
— OptaJean (@OptaJean) September 22, 2022
This meeting, the France team will play it in Copenhagen, Sunday, against Denmark. It will be decisive in two titles, with two very specific objectives: to succeed in remaining in the first division of the League of Nations, a competition that the Blues won less than a year ago, and to take revenge against Denmark, after the defeat of June (1-2). While putting pressure on the Danes, future opponents of the Blues at the World Cup. A matter of trust. After having partly found it Thursday evening against Austria, it would be a shame to end this rally with a defeat, before the big challenge of the Blues at the end of the year.