There are defeats that imprint themselves on the retina and wake you up at night, like the final of the last World Cup. And then there are others, less dramatic, easier to digest. The 2-1 setback for the French football team on Tuesday September 12 falls into the second category. In Dortmund, Germany, the Blues lost for the first time in 2023 at the end of a meeting that was certainly prestigious on paper, but without much at stake. This friendly match lent itself to a squad review.
Thus, Didier Deschamps made six changes in the starting eleven compared to the team lined up against Ireland (2-0 victory), last Thursday, at the Parc des Princes. “Seeing other players for the next rounds is important”, he explained Tuesday evening on TF1. Follow his gaze towards the Euro (from June 14 to July 14, 2024), a competition which will take place… in Germany.
The usual starters Kylian Mbappé and Dayot Upamecano spent the evening on the bench, William Saliba and Jean-Clair Todibo composed an unprecedented central defense, when Randal Kolo Muani made his return in attack alongside Antoine Griezmann, the pillar that the coach never replace. The Atlético de Madrid player honored his 123e selection and especially its 80e rank match for the Blues!
Facing the Germans, “Grizou” experienced victory at Euro 2020, joy in the semi-final of Euro 2016 and pain in the quarter-final of the 2014 World Cup. At the time, the Nationalmannschaft seemed untouchable. Since then, this supremacy has been shattered. After their eliminations in the first round of the World Cup editions in Russia and Qatar, German supporters were counting on former Bayern Munich coach Hansi Flick to find a great team at home next summer.
Electroshock
Alas, following a series of bad results including a 4-1 slap inflicted by Japan last Saturday, the coach was fired from his post on Sunday, temporarily replaced by Rudi Voller while waiting for the federation to find a successor. In its rich history, Germany has never ousted a coach. This shows the content of the current sporting crisis.
In football, electroshocks are remedies that often prove effective in the short term. This Tuesday, a much more determined Germany found the fault from its second foray into the French area. If Benjamin Henrichs’ cross was not a gift, Thomas Müller controlled the ball with his stomach before following up with a point-blank shot (1-0, 4e) and clench an angry fist.
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