What a relief that this goal from Pierre Kalulu (0-1, 75th), following an error by a Macedonian defender in the box.
Thanks to the goal of young Rossonero, 21, his second in the selection, the French hopeful team can take a big blow and breathe serenely all winter while waiting for its next trip to Ukraine on March 29.
Pierre Kalulu's goal in the 75th!
(0-1) #MACFRA pic.twitter.com/G09XR0Nefj
- French team ⭐⭐ (@equipedefrance) November 16, 2021
Enterprising but unable to find the loophole against opponents they had dominated 3-0 at Le Mans in early September, Sylvain Ripoll and his players would have had a worse holiday season in the event of a draw in Skopje. Indeed, before Kalulu's goal, Ukraine, the Bleuets' main competitor in their group, had come one point closer, thanks to their 2-1 success over Serbia on Tuesday. Instead, France keeps three points ahead.
The French Espoirs struggled to get into the match, then came up against the strong defense of North Macedonia.
Over the first 45 minutes, the Blues only had 54% possession and 2 shots on target on 8 attempts.
During the first period, Eduardo Camavinga's teammates created a pair of chances but also experienced a hot alert on Meslier's goal.
On a cross from Truffert from the left, Badiashile won his head duel in the area but the ball failed flush with the Macedonian left post (34 ').
After which, near the surface, Caqueret had the leisure to arm a strike with the right foot, which unfortunately ended on the amount of the opposing goalkeeper.
But before the break, Bleuets goalkeeper Meslier avoided the worst by winning his duel against Ilievski (40th), for the only Macedonian occasion.
After the break, apart from two opportunities from Adli (65th) and Kalimuendo (72nd), the Bleuets, yet leading the scorers in all groups with 20 goals - tied with the Netherlands, did much better and seemed to be heading for the points split, to the liberating goal and a pretty lucky Kalulu.
"I know this kind of match against a very tightly knit opponent, on difficult terrain, with a lot of faults," Ripoll explained at the microphone of Canal +.
We stayed in approximate matters, in a closed match.
I would have liked to see more fluidity, more markdown.
But winning matches in these countries is never easy. ”
