Only a bastard strike could wake them up. In the middle of the boredom, this Monday evening at the Aviva Stadium against Ireland, Benjamin Pavard, a specialist in foot cannons, sent the French to another planet. Here they are, thanks to that, launched like the lightning which drives them towards a qualification for Euro 2024 and therefore torn from a scenario which until then looked like a pensum, a sterile and without panache domination.
With six points in two games and before receiving Greece and going to challenge Gibraltar in Portugal next June, the Blues of captain Kylian Mbappé maintain a ferocity in the competition intact. They like to win by seducing on Friday and they like to win by boring on Monday. In short, they especially like to win and it seems that the coach is called Didier Deschamps.
The Irish faithful to the “fighting spirit”
Three days after the demonstration against the Batavians (4-0), the men of DD put away the gala outfit without completely putting on the overalls. By dint of never changing rhythm, they have spent their life in attack placed without moving anything. Everything that had shone at the Stade de France was extinguished in Dublin, the inspirations of Randal Kolo Muani, the fulcrum supposed to be embodied by Olivier Giroud, the game advancing from the central hinge.
Even Mbappé was satisfied with crumbs, finding little relay with Adrien Rabiot or Theo Hernandez to create spaces facing the Irish well organized and grouped like at the exit of a pub.
As much as the Irish never had a chance to score, barring a misunderstanding, they were true to their tradition of bravery and commitment, fiercely defending the 0-0 as long as they could hold out.
They had not seen Pavard coming, on fire for several weeks, author of a double with Bayern Munich two weeks ago. The Bavarian will be able to return to Germany with peace of mind while a new coach, Thomas Tuchel, is waiting for him and he must seduce him to keep his place. Nothing beats a good goal to score love points.
The parade marvel of Maignan
The Blues of 2023 possess the new qualities of youth, power and speed, without taking away their individual talent, that immense of their captain on Friday, like that of their former side whom Deschamps relaunched on this occasion.
And when Ireland went wild for the last ten scorching minutes, attempting an unexpected equalizer pushed by the 50,000 furious supporters of the Aviva Stadium, the Blues found the resources to resist and some valiant soldiers in the fight, like Dayot Upamecano or Mike Maignan, author of two essential parades, one of which was close to marvel just before the end of regulation time on a header from Nathan Collins.
Considering that no selection comes here for a walk in playoff matches, we must take this victory as it is: encouragement for the future, one more step towards the formation of a hard core – Kolo Muani seems to be settling -, trust maintained. There is a lot of traffic in the France team station, some are leaving, others are arriving, but it’s always a train that arrives on time.