France wins Portugal on penalties, then infuses – Libération

2024-07-05 21:43:12

Euro football 2024dossier

At the end of extra time and a penalty shootout after a 0-0 draw, Didier Deschamps’ men defeated Portugal and qualified for the semi-finals of the Euros, which they will play on Tuesday.

We would have felt the shots on target coming from a distance, say an hour or so. To be honest, we almost think that the English lawyer Michael Oliver is trying to suggest them to the early French and Portuguese selections, to the tune of “Gentlemen, if you don’t mind, let’s cut this idea short”. Of course he has no latitude, the rules are the rules and the Blues have to wait for a tireless exercise – two failures in the last two competitions – to get their place in the last four (0-0 after the season addition, 5). -3 on penalties). It was Théo Hernandez, completely inactive for almost the whole game, who scored the last goal on goal. After all, this team gives what it has to give.

The Spanish option is for Tuesday in Munich. On Friday, Kylian Mbappé arrived at the Volksparkstadion in Hamburg alone, the last to leave the tricolor bus, long after his friends. And his vice-captain Antoine Griezmann arrived first on the pitch for warmth, his smile booming through the big screens. Too much Of course. But football is theater. The day before, Mbappé had stuck the poor form of Griezmann in stone (in front of the microphones), we do not know what Mâconnais thinks about him but he has at least one reason to be happy: it is all down to his machine (he changes the machine in each game), the coach, Didier Deschamps, has moved him back to the position, the real problems of the player from the beginning of the minimum Euro in the group, where duel situations are frequent. .

Great wisdom

While Griezmann enjoyed his happiness, something hit from the stands: for the first time since he arrived in Germany, the French team is working against the right option. The same patience, the same desire to treat each recovered ball as a precious possession, the same hardness in the fight, the same absence of holes in this or that position because all these beautiful people play in the biggest clubs on the planet. And he was just as quick on the opposing goal when a small chance opened up just after he got the ball back. Hence the tendency of looking at two mirror groups, not similar but fed by the same thoughts, the same reactions and the same resource groups. On the French side, the case of the opposing left, however, requires careful management: Rafael Leão punishing Jules Koundé each time, Eduardo Camavinga and Dayot Upamecano are called as reinforcements.

0-0 to the lemons and a cautious first half. Got a shot on target. The Portuguese option was quickly followed by the resumption, as if the Lusitanians had finally realized together that their first fears were ineffectual. It gives them an element of surprise. Now, Mike Maignan has been forced to make two great saves (61st, 63rd) the second of this, after the pass from Vitinha after Leão once again tear the blue curtain, it seems like a miracle. Stung, the Blues in turn entered the dance when Griezmann left, replaced by Ousmane Dembélé: two great French opportunities later, destroyed by Randal Kolo Muani (66th) and Camavinga only six meters (70th), and the balance has been restored.

Hypnosis sessions

Of the benefits, of the owners of the fear, of the responsibilities of the field … Ten minutes of letting go and twenty-five left to make the break, a few far shots on the French team, the 41 years of the tough Portuguese defender Pepe who was shocked to race against the 26 springs of Marcus Thuram, Vitinha and N’Golo Kanté who did not stop in trouble. At the end of the first overtime, Leão and the others will enjoy a magical possession of up to four minutes (!), rolling the ball as if they were doing a hypnosis session. At this point, they can no longer accept it.

Of course, they stuck to the goal they were given at the start by relying on penalties, without Mbappé coming off with a quarter of an hour to go. Dembélé, Fofana, Koundé, Barcola and Hernandez did not shake, João Félix lost his. The Tricolores are on two goals in four matches, the Portuguese came out without having scored a single one in their last three meetings (and with two extra periods): pull the hair of the hills, let us see the sea