The summary of the Greece-France match:
The Blues wanted to win everything, at least they didn’t lose. After seven straight victories in these Euro 2024 qualifiers, synonymous with direct qualification for the competition, the France team challenged Greece this Tuesday, November 21 at the Agia Sofia stadium, in the Athens metropolitan area.
After a match in which they were successively a little soft, dominant, dominated then aggressive to come back to the score, the Blues, with an eleven reshuffled after the festival against Gibraltar, left their final trip with the point of the draw (2 -2). But without the satisfaction of having achieved a grand slam in these eight qualifying matches.
The fault of a surprising Greek team. Because the ” Pirate ship “ initially pitched in the first period. Initially put to sleep by the slow pace of a match without any stakes, France being assured of finishing first and the locals third in group B, the Greeks ended up being surprised.
The Hellenes had however been warned by Antoine Griezmann. The Mâconnais first struck from 20 meters, forcing Vlachodimos to fly away to remove the leather from the frame (15th). Then, well served behind the defense by a very inspired Youssouf Fofana this evening, Griezmann found the post in a less than academic recovery.
It was ultimately from Randal Kolo Muani, still as discreet as during his last outings in the blue jersey, that the first spark came. Five minutes from half-time, the Parisian, launched deep by a clever deflection from Olivier Giroud, took the ball off his chest before sending a cannonball under the bar from a tight angle (0 -1, 42nd). What he didn’t know was that his spark would reignite the Greek flame.
Returning from the locker room, all it took for the locals was a very low ball loss from Lucas Hernandez to open the scoring with their first shot on target of the match. After seeing two of his teammates successively countered by Saliba and Lucas Hernandez, Anastasios Bakasetasa inherited the leather at the entrance to the area, which he catapulted with a volley into the goal of Brice Samba, helpless (1-1, 56th) .
Five minutes later, Jules Koundé, still unconvincing in his right lane, was eliminated on a mischievous little bridge from Dimitrios Giannoulis. The latter, precise in the zone of truth, transmitted well behind to Fotis Ioannidis, who only had to finish with a touch of the ball. In five minutes the Blues were overthrown and had conceded more goals than in their last seven matches.
Before it came from the field, the French reaction arrived from the bench. Didier Deschamps brought in Kinglsey Coman, Jonathan Clauss and Kylian Mbappé. Proof, if any were needed, that the coach refuses to lose under these colors, even if the match does not have the slightest sporting stake. Despite the refreshed offensive armada, it was from Fofana that the light came. At 25 meters, he asked no questions before propelling the ball under the crossbar of Odysseas Vlachodimos (2-2, 74th), whose fingertips were not firm enough to deflect for a corner.
At 2-2, the blue wave broke and the changes made by “DD” were felt. So much so that the uprights shook three times. First on a deflected cross from Kingley Coman, who came to lick the near post then, under the effect of the deflection, made a parabola inside the goal, before coming out… touching the second post. No “goal line technology tonight” lamented Antoine Griezmann, referring to video technology useful in such cases. According to TF1, the ball did indeed enter the goal.
At the end of added time, Mbappé, who had recovered his captain’s armband, tried to score the winning goal on the gong, but his powerful shot was deflected by the goalkeeper onto the bar, a few moments before the shot. no final whistle sounds.