The French team gave a sensational proof of life this Tuesday evening, November 22 in Qatar, took two points ahead of Denmark and Tunisia and extricated themselves from an evening that began like the apocalypse and ended in the euphoria of an equaled record, Thierry Henry by Olivier Giroud. The thesis of the miracle having no depth, all that concerns the France team, its sins of the season and of the moment – defending badly –, as well as its eternal happiness. From the leaping Giroud to the striking Kylian Mbappé, head scorer too, like a complete panoply, in the sense of disguise.
He took the complete striker’s tunic when his partner was again posted in the right place at every moment to collect the timpani. Antoine Griezmann was never far away to help the duo undermine Australia, deconstructed in a lead atmosphere. Everything looked like the roller coaster of a World Cup, except for the public, which seemed to be condemned behind closed doors and to silence.
From nightmare to light. France – Australia has been written on the fabric of the last tricolor weeks, this surrounding bad luck mixed with sporting insignificance. The first minutes extended the ordeal of the last six months with an overwhelmed team, losing another player in a duel (Lucas Hernandez, probably out for a very long time), anemic in the fight, on the street in everything, with a point of organ a Benjamin Pavard everywhere except here, in Doha. And then the beautiful story arose, a little out of nowhere, after about twenty minutes of torment.
Rabiot, the well-made head
Lucas’ replacement, his brother Theo, found Adrien Rabiot’s perfect header for his first World Cup goal after one game, a good stat. The former Parisian, in the laundry, will serve Olivier Giroud for the recovery and the return to business in five minutes flat, like a great team that would be tired of being ridiculous, everything that leaked a few hours earlier the Argentina, buried in its shortcomings the whole game against Saudi Arabia. This Tuesday, France refused the role in the dinner of idiots and it is his best idea of the match.
The hair-raising Théo Hernandez changed the scene, with ceaseless activity in his left lane and made the overall animation simpler. Mbappé then refocused, depopulating his lane where he stuck to the line too much for our taste and probably his.
Bondy’s crack is strong but even stronger, closer to the goal and not far from the surface. The closer he got to his field of play, the more the Blues spread their attacking poison in front of the Australian goals. We can lose the first match of the competition and become world champion, that’s for the Argentines. We can also not know where we are going and find a direction and a course during the tournament. That’s what happened to the Blues on Tuesday, started from nothing, returned from everything and crossed by a momentum. We’re not moving, click-clack, this photo is in the bag. We go with it, as long as possible.