In a well-stocked Stade de France, the Blues finally returned to victory against Austria (2-0) this Thursday in the Nations League after four unsuccessful matches. The young generation embodied by Benoit Badiashile and Aurélien Tchouaméni scored a lot of points when Olivier Giroud made a successful comeback.
For this League of Nations match, the 70,000 spectators of the Lyon lair showed themselves up to the event. Gone are the days when the Blues played in an atmosphere that was far too cozy. Before the start of the meeting, a beautiful sound and light show plunged the public into the atmosphere. The group of supporters of the Irresistibles Français, which celebrated its 12th birthday, for its part made a nice tifo in the North Bend before a superb Marseillaise sounded. The encouragement and chanting then continued throughout the game. Hats off also to the Austrian fans, many of whom came to encourage a selection that did not do them well.
At 21, the Monegasque made his big first with the flocked jersey of the rooster. Despite the challenge, the Rock player did not shake and delivered a very good performance. Showing a surprising serenity, the central defender proved to be very useful above all by his quality of reminders. We note in particular a magnificent opening from his half of the field for Olivier Giroud at the very start of the match, the Milanese was very close to concluding. His second half is a little more discreet but remains effective (12 balls recovered).
The Madrilenian confirms every day that he has definitely entered a new dimension. For his twelfth appearance in Blue, Aurélien Tchouaméni showed the full extent of his talent. Very comfortable technically, his ball insurance remains remarkable. He came close to scoring one of the goals of the year in the first half. His superb acrobatic volley will be repelled with the end of the gloves by the Austrian goalkeeper. After returning from the locker room, the former Monegasque is not far from pushing the ball into the back of the net. In a decimated team in the midfield (Rabiot, Kanté, Pogba), he stands out as an essential element for Didier Deschamps a few weeks before the World Cup in Qatar. We also salute the match of Youssouf Fofana. In a slightly less flamboyant style, the Monegasque rose to the occasion for his first.
His big comeback in Blue is proving to be a real success. Olivier Giroud simply did Olivier Giroud. Always valuable in his role as a fulcrum and liberator of space, the former Gunners striker forms a surprisingly effective duo with Kylian Mbappé. He is also at the origin of the opening of the score of the Parisian. His remarkable behavior and his usual combativeness were rewarded with a nice goal on a very nice cross from Griezmann. Olivier Giroud is getting a little closer to Thierry Henry, top scorer in French history: 51 goals for the Arsenal legend against 49 goals for the Milanese. History will tell if Olivier Giroud leaves for Qatar next November, he will in any case have done everything for it.
this French team cursed? The question begins to arise seriously. Already deprived of a dozen players (Benzema, Lloris, Kimpembé, Pogba, Kanté…), Didier Deschamps lost two new soldiers tonight. Jules Koundé is indeed out on injury after only twenty minutes of play. Serious physical problem or simple precaution? According to the first elements, the player would have felt muscle pain (left hamstrings). In the event of a serious injury, the blow would be hard for the former Bordeaux player who has just started his season with Barça. Two months before the start of the World Cup, the infirmary continues to fill up… since Mike Maignan was forced to leave at half-time (muscle pain in the calf). However, the Rossoneri goalkeeper had not had to surpass himself for 45 minutes (14 balls hit and no saves to be made).
After the first leg, much more was expected of this selection. And yet, David Alaba’s partners showed almost nothing tonight (no shots on target). Contenting themselves with defending, their attackers were sorely lacking in balls. If the opposition appeared to be largely unbalanced, we still expected more from a nation ranked thirty-third in the FIFA rankings.
France 2-0 Austria
League of Nations – 5th day
Goals: Mbappé (56th), Giroud (65th) for France.
Warning: Weimann (38th)
France: Maignan (Areola, 46th) – Clauss, Koundé (Saliba, 23rd), Varane (c), Badiashile, Mendy – Tchouameni, Fofana – Griezmann (Dembélé, 79th) – Mbappé (Kolo Muani, 90th ), Giroud (Nkunku, 78th).
Austria: Pentz – Trimmel, Lienhart, Wöber, Alaba (c, Posch 69th) – Seiwald, Schlager, Sabitzer (Schmid, 69th), Weimann (Ljubicic, 50th) – Arnautovic (Gregoritsch, 64th), Onisiwo (Baumgartner, 64th).
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