Opposed to Switzerland on Wednesday, the France Espoirs team had two objectives: to qualify for the quarter-finals and to develop a more attractive game. Contract fulfilled with a 1-4 win and goals from Amine Gouiri (16th sp), Bradley Barcola (65th), Rayan Cherki (76th) and Maxence Caqueret (81st).
Thanks to this third success in as many games, Sylvain Ripoll’s Bleuets finish first in Group D. They will meet Ukraine in the quarter-finals. The Helvetians, evening opponents, qualified in extremis thanks to the victory of Norway over Italy (1-0) in the other meeting of the group.
France opened the scoring with a penalty converted by Amine Gouiri in the 16th minute. The Stade Rennes striker penalized a foul by Swiss midfielder Fabian Rieder on Rayan Cherki, who launched a series of dribbles into the area.
The young Nati responded to the French twenty minutes later thanks to his FC Basel striker duo, Zeki Amdouni, shifting perfectly to his left Dan Ndoye to deceive Lucas Chevalier (35th).
Difficult to enter in the second half, the Bleuets accelerated again on the hour mark and took the lead thanks to Bradley Barcola.
The Lyon winger intercepted a Swiss ball, relied on a double stint with Amine Gouiri to enter the opposing box and deceive Amir Saipi, the Swiss goalkeeper (66th).
Gouiri again turned into a passer, serving Cherki ten minutes later (3-1, 76th).
Then Barcola, launched by Le Fée, offered Maxence Caqueret, his captain and teammate in Lyon, the fourth French goal.
In the quarters, Les Bleuets will face Ukraine, 2nd in Group B, on Sunday in Cluj (9:00 p.m.).
