Tops / Flops France-Japan: Kubo flew over his subject, Thauvin sank

Tops

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Takefusa Kubo, decisive technical leader

If he only played the first period, that was enough to undermine the entire defense of the Blues.

Obviously, he opens the scoring by following well the strike of Ueda (1-0, 27th) but it is especially in the game that he was excellent.

Omnipresent, this small template is a formidable catalyst for the actions of his team.

Always the right choice, always the right tempo, with a lot of speed and an irreproachable ball skill.

The Real Madrid player symbolizes everything that the French lacked offensively in this meeting, and since the start of the tournament.

Ayase Ueda, in all the right ways

One of the strengths of the Blues was André-Pierre Gignac, the scorer, but the Japanese also can boast of having a number 9 of great quality.

If he did not score, Ayase Ueda is involved on the first two goals of his team, stumbling each time on Paul Bernardoni but fortunately well followed by his teammates.

Back to goal and in depth, he gave a clavaire to a French defense which continued to take water throughout the meeting.

He would have deserved to score but he is one of the great architects of this slap inflicted on the France team.

Flops

Florian Thauvin has never embraced his role

He was supposed to be one of the executives of this young team from France.

If Gignac has embodied this status, Florian Thauvin has not taken on this leadership role at all.

In any case on the ground.

The former Marseillais remained in line with what he had offered us against Mexico and South Africa.

Technically rough, he had a lot of waste in his transmissions and his initiatives.

He also appeared physically borrowed.

A tournament to forget for the world champion, who will not be Olympic champion, he who dreamed of a medal.

He was not up to the challenge.

Randal Kolo Muani, regrettable blood loss

The FC Nantes player did not stand out in the way he would have liked during the Olympic tournament.

Already particularly on the nerves since the first match against Mexico, Randal Kolo Muani has taken a new step in unnecessary aggression.

Just after conceding the third goal, he came to wipe his spikes copiously on Miyoshi, the scorer.

An inadmissible gesture which first earned him a yellow card before turning, logically, into red after consulting the VAR.

If French hopes were already extinguished, being expelled during such a rout is not really something to show in football schools.

His tournament was like that of France: failed.

Sylvain Ripoll, a non-existent leg

The coach of the France Olympic team is, in part, in the Flops for all of his work. Not spoiled by the last minute withdrawals of his usual executives with the Espoirs, the former Lorient coach may not have been able to work as well as he wanted. But it is clear that Sylvain Ripoll has never been able to give even an ounce of playing identity to his team. His players did not seem to follow any tactical logic. Bad pressing, hazardous alignments, he is not on the field but his instructions do not seem to work. If only it was the first time because of the reshuffled squad… but the performance of the Olympic Blues strangely resembled the Hopes in terms of intentions and shortcomings.