The victory for the Blueberries. Opposed to Mexico this Friday, in Grenoble, in a friendly, Sylvain Ripoll’s players won 1-0, on a goal from Maxence Caqueret. A match in which Les Bleuets could (should?) have finished with a much wider scoreline… The France team will challenge Italy, Norway and Switzerland in the European Under-21 Championship which will will take place in Romania and Georgia, from June 21 to July 8, 2023.
With 29 degrees in the Grenoble atmosphere at kick-off, it was almost logical to see the two teams take the pulse. The first ten minutes were very quiet. The French quickly raised their voices when they were able to exploit the spaces on the sides. Barcola’s runs were the first to set the Mexican defense on fire. The young Lyonnais did not hesitate to provoke his vis-à-vis (12th). This helped launch the Blueberry machine.
He was very strong in that first half: his running/distribution combination was one of the keys to that first half. On his left side, Amine Gouiri was not left out. In another register, more turned in the creation of the game, he created the opportunity leading to the strike of Nkounkou (17th). Then he found himself in a shooting position in the 23rd, but came up against Garcia’s superb save. He could have gotten a penalty on his incursion into the opponent’s area (30th): the defense remained vigilant on the spot. Four minutes later, once again at the heart of the game, the Rennais inherited a ball centered on the ground by Barcola. With his back to goal, Gouiri deflected the ball towards Captain Caqueret in a striking position at the entrance to the area. The rebound shot from the Lyonnais hit the mark: 1-0 for the Bleuets (34th). The rhythm of the meeting quickly fell after the opener. However, France almost made the break before halftime. Thuram, Gouiri and Barcola successively saw their strikes repelled by the defense.
“Sufficiency”, the watchword on the tricolor side in the second period. Amine Gouiri (50th then 60th) continued on his high bases of the first period. However, he failed to double the bet. Then it was dead calm, in terms of goals. In the 63rd, Arnaud Kalimuendo saw his shot blocked at the last moment by a defender when the latter was nevertheless a good 15 meters behind at the start of the action. Three minutes later, it was Michael Olise who harvested. In a similar situation, the Crystal Palace striker inherited the ball alone in front of the cage. But his shot, too loose, found the right post of the Mexican goal.
The last 20 minutes mimicked the first 20. The entry of Rayan Cherki (71st) led to brilliant strokes but also to individualism. He preferred to play, alone, a 3 against 2 then missed a simple shift in two minutes of time. The clumsiness was omnipresent at the end of the match (Olise in 76th, Wahi and Larouci, 88th). In the end, the victory is there (1-0), the way a little less.