Tops / Flops France-Switzerland: Gérard qui rit, Pardin qui pleure

TOPS

A sumptuous guardian duel

It is never easy to enter a match race to replace an injured teammate.

Especially as a guardian.

Nevertheless, Vincent Gérard did not doubt.

As soon as he set foot on the floor, he rejected the first two Swiss attempts that presented themselves to him.

This has had the merit of putting it in the direction of the market.

And at the end of the match, while France was double numerically outnumbered, it was again he who made two decisive stops, before stopping the last Swiss attempt, certainly more than ten meters away.

With 10 saves at 42%, he maintains his very high average, after being elected man of the match against Austria.

And his performance was essential because opposite, Nicolas Portner was not outdone (12 stops), including two masterful parades in the last ten minutes on shots six meters from Luc Abalo and Melvyn Richardson.  

Andy Schmid's recital

Since the start of this World Cup, France has become accustomed to measuring itself against soloists.

Without really succeeding in stopping them.

Thus, after the Norwegian Sander Sagosen four days ago, the Blues this time attended the show.

With 10 goals (out of 17 attempts) and 4 assists, the back was simply responsible for 60% of his team's goals.

Impressive.

Especially during the first quarter of an hour when he was quite simply touched by the grace of 6 out of 6, especially on this shot from eleven meters sent in full skylight.

A masterpiece.

Fortunately, physically, the Swiss maestro faltered in the second half, because without it, not sure that France could have come out with the victory.   

Kentin Mahé the boss

In the absence of Nikola Karabatic, injured a knee and remained in France, Kentin Mahé is taking on a new dimension as a center-half, on which he played a lot in club, less in selection where he was for a long time the replacement of Michaël Guigou on the left wing.

Already top scorer for the Blues before the meeting with 11 goals, the Veszprem player added 7 more, with minimal waste (two failed shots including a seven-meter throw).

Not to mention 3 assists.

Even if it can sometimes turn out to be messy, Mahé adds punch to the French attack, especially with his ability to find intervals that look like mouse holes.

FLOPS

Pardin's injury

After a difficult start, France had just signed a 6-1 and then the cold snap on Cairo.

On an innocuous action, Tynowski scored from six meters but on his momentum, he landed on the right leg of a Wesley Pardin out to close the angle.

The French goalkeeper's right knee bent under the weight of the Swiss player and his match came to an abrupt end.

And his World Cup at the same time?

Impossible to say for now but the face of the Aix keeper did not fail to worry about the potential severity of his injury.

A real heartbreak in view of its match last Thursday against Norway ...      

An unintelligent end to the match

If France was able to show self-sacrifice to win this match against Switzerland, some of its members did not shine for their situational intelligence less than five minutes from the end.

First culprit, Romain Lagarde, who will have played much less fair than against Austria and who took two minutes for an unnecessary excess of commitment against a Swiss opponent who was not dangerous.

And less than a minute later, his partner Dika Mem joined him for shooting after the referee's whistle.

Double outnumbered for more than a minute, the Blues had to rely on their goalkeeper to preserve the victory ...

The mess at six meters

Rather very effective in their first two matches, the French forgot their fundamentals a little on Monday, especially at six meters.

Like a Hugo Descat author of a mediocre 2 out of 5 on his wing.

But the worst could have been this failure of Melvyn Richardson ten seconds from the end while he was alone in the center.

A failure which gave Switzerland an ultimate opportunity to snatch the draw.

In vain.

But if the Blues want to travel far in this World Cup, they will have to be more killers in front of the opposing goal.

Read also

• 2021 World Calendar and Results