Three days after their inaugural victory against Italy (2-1), the Bleuets made a very dull copy against Norway. Most of it was done by Sylvain Ripoll’s men who laboriously won 1-0. Qualified for the quarterfinals thanks to this success, they will be able to breathe against Switzerland next Wednesday (8:45 p.m.) and patiently await the identity of their opponent.
After a simply soporific first half where nothing was to be remembered, the Bleuets recovered after returning from the locker room. After ten more enterprising minutes, Michael Olise concluded a nice collective movement with a close recovery at the far post, following a cross from Amine Adli addressed from the left side (57th).
The opener settled the game and Sylvain Ripoll made several changes. The entries of Rayan Cherki, Amine Gouiri, Elye Wahi and Bradley Barcola were able to bring a lot of dynamism to a team that was sorely lacking in it. Rayan Cherki above all distinguished himself and put a thorny question back on the table: should Sylvain Ripoll integrate the Lyonnais into his 11 by the end of the competition?
The Norwegians pushed in the last quarter of an hour, in vain. Lucas Chevalier was imperial in the last moments and the luck was good this evening in Cluj. Two shadows on the board however: the yellow card received by amine Adli, suspended from the next match, as well as the injury of Michael Olise. The qualification is assured but the content was not really convincing. We will have to show a better face this Wednesday against Switzerland (8:45 p.m.) before a necessarily more challenging quarter-final.