Special Envoy in Munich
,
At the foot of a steep-walled mountain - only Beckenbauer and his family (1972-1974), the Blues of Zidane (1998-2000) and Spain of Xavi and Iniesta (2008-2010-2012) succeeded, in a direction or the other, to make the double Mondial-Euro - the players of Didier Deschamps began their ascent by the steep face, Tuesday evening in Munich.
Before rediscovering that an opponent can play 12 Saturday in Budapest where 61,000 supporters will carry Hungary, then meet the Portugal of cyborg Ronaldo, their executioners of the 2016 final, it was not necessary to unscrew the entry facing the Mannschaft.
Mission accomplished for generous and courageous world champions, authors of a match full of control for their entry into the Euro (1-0).
Hummels' "gift".
In a Football Arena electrified by the 14,500 lucky people authorized to attend the show (out of 70,000 seats) and which could have been the scene of a tragedy with the crash landing of a Greenpeace activist parachutist who had two minor injuries before the kick off, the Blues returned full pot in their Euro. Responding to the physical challenge imposed by the Germans, they managed a first period of a very high level in the commitment and technical accuracy. An almost perfect start, rewarded by a goal signed by Mats Hummels (1-0, 20th). The executioner of France in the quarterfinals of the 2014 World Cup propelled into his own nets a strong center from Lucas Hernandez that Paul Pogba had served with a sumptuous outside of the right foot.In great difficulty in the face of the liveliness of Mbappé and the movements of Benzema, the German central may have regretted having been recalled to the selection after two and a half years of absence. Often on the ball but initially not very dangerous, the Mannschaft still sent some shivers down the spine of the 2,500 French supporters present. But neither Toni Kroos on a free kick (25th, 27th) nor Gundogan (38th) managed to rebalance the balance before the break.27th) nor Gundogan (38th) failed to rebalance the scales before the break.27th) nor Gundogan (38th) failed to rebalance the scales before the break.
Pavard KO, the defense holds the shock.
If the masked watchdog Rüdiger kept his promise to play "
dirty
“, Until biting Pogba in the back, his teammate Gosens did the same. His huge hip load forward on the head of Benjamin Pavard (59th), in the false air of that of Harald Schumacher against Patrick Battiston in 1982, the mean less, knocked out the Ch'ti - then returned to the field - at a time when the blue boat was pitching strongly. But the French defense, constantly under pressure, proved imperial and Gnabry imprecise (54th). Mbappé, he adjusted Neuer (69th) well but he was offside. Like Karim Benzema, whose joy to shake the nets again in the selection was showered by the VAR (85th). The action initiated by Griezmann, with Pogba and Mbappé in the relay, was magnificent. Adrien Rabiot, for his part, had missed an opportunity to make theatmosphere by touching wood (52nd). Mbappé could also have obtained a penalty (78th). Without regrets. The French sign a great deal in Bavaria and are already seeing the round of 16.
The blue magicians.
With only 112 minutes in common during the two preparation matches against Wales and Bulgaria, Antoine Griezmann, Kylian Mbappé and Karim Benzema relied more on their magic on the ball than on their automatisms and their experience together to make their trio , promising on paper, the machine to martyr the defenses that the world already envied us. If none has scored, the three attacking buddies have achieved a big match, like the entire eleven tricolor finally. In the midfield, Paul Pogba was masterful, Adrien Rabiot held his benchmark match for the France team and the balloon vacuum cleaner N'Golo Kanté did what he can do best, plugging the gaps and harassing the team. 'opponent.Finally, what about the Kimpembe-Varane duo on which the German waves crashed all evening.
