The second half of the match against South Africa on Sunday synthesized the incredible life of the French Olympic team led by its charismatic captain André-Pierre Gignac.
Sylvain Ripoll, the coach, had to show patience and diplomacy to compose a team in the face of the reluctance of the clubs to let go of their players to live the Olympic adventure.
The victorious epic of the team led by Henri Michel in 1984 (in the wake of the Euro title of the magic square of Michel Hidalgo) nevertheless made the pride of French football and the last Olympic qualification dated back to 1996 but ...
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The difficultly assembled French Olympic team plunged into the Olympic adventure in Tokyo with a large defeat (4-1) against Mexico.
Before a stunning match which maintains the hope of a qualification for the quarter-finals (4-3 against South Africa).
André-Pierre Gignac (scorer against Mexico) scored the three goals to allow the Blues to come back to level against South Africa, before offering the winning goal to Teji Savanier.
Faced with the leader of Group A with two victories, the Blues (3rd with 3 points) must, this Wednesday, win with two goals or hope for a misstep from the Mexicans (2nd) against the South Africans.
Several times we already felt on the plane
Andre Pierre Gignac
After the victorious match against South Africa, André-Pierre Gignac (35, one of the three players over 23 authorized), leader and driving force, was excited. That of prolonging the adventure: “
It's the madness of football, that's why we love this show. It was a great game to watch. We have to erase our fragility, we have to be much closer to the players defensively. These are details. We are happy with the victory, we are relieved. On several occasions we felt already on the plane, and then each time we manage to come back to the game. We had a burst of pride, a little ego too. We could no longer calculate, we had to go all out
. "
“
This victory brings us together again, we offer ourselves a final against Japan (Wednesday, 1:00 pm, Yokohama),
continues the former Marseillais
. We know that the Japanese are at home. We must have this desire to surpass ourselves, to give everything. The debauchery of energy is incredible, but we are still here, we are still in the battle.
"Gignac the" Tiger "will endeavor to lead by example. In 1996, in Atlanta, the French team (Vieira, Wiltord, Pires…) led by Raymond Domenech lost (after extra time) against Portugal…