In the ambient tricolor gloom, behind the scenes as in the infirmary, the Blues held on thanks to a column of leaders, Raphaël Varane behind, Aurélien Tchouaméni in the middle and Kylian Mbappé in attack.
They each allowed the Blues to advance, dominating their sector, imposing themselves as bosses and even as a scorer for the Parisian.
The Bondynois will have been so early but refused for a fair offside, before taking care of everything, launched in depth by Olivier Giroud shortly before the hour mark. The crack dribbled past two Austrians, was ripped off to find an angle of fire and when we thought he was going to stumble, he took it upon himself to deceive Patrick Pentz (1-0, 56th).
Scorer in Vienna in June, the 2018 world champion confirms his gradual rise to power even if he is well within his statistical passing times.
He recalls that he is never as strong as at the heart of the discussions, marking the week of his showdown won against the Federation over image rights.
His opener kicked off the game after a first period mixing enthusiasm with boredom, accuracy on the sides with a clumsy finish, with the symbol of the best a return from Tchouaméni propelled on the bar by Pentz.
The injured, except perhaps Paul Pogba, are all expected for November in Qatar and with those already present, they can imagine hurting the World Cup.
It is still relevant.
Giroud two goals from Henry's record
The biggest question up to the list around November 9 will now concern the presence or not of Olivier Giroud, author of his 49th goal in selection (2-0, 65th) this Thursday at the Stade de France, two units now of Thierry Henry's record.
Listening to the coach, he conditions the presence of the Milanese on the absence of one of the front three, rather Karim Benzema moreover, refusing to be cheese and dessert at the same time.
A baroque frugality when a selection cannot decree the end of abundance when it has so many talents, even if they will be the face for a month on the bench – Giroud says everywhere that he would accept his status as a substitute if we take him.
The popular and media pressure, which Didier Deschamps says he is escaping, will increase and we can never repeat loud enough that the Blues are stronger with Giroud than with Wissam Ben Yedder in reserve.
Saint-Denis gave him a standing ovation when he was replaced by Christopher Nkunku about ten minutes from the end.
In unsuccessful or failed tournaments (Euro 2016 and Euro 2021), it was first of all the weakness of the bench that had cost us to go further each time, with zero goals scored after coaching Deschamps.
What he loses in calm in social life, he gains in competitiveness.
That of the Blues indicates a return.
Revamped, reduced, with a carnage that continued live with two new injuries - Jules Koundé (hamstrings) and Mike Maignan (calf) - they partly rekindled the flame, with some tasty sequences and a vitality that fled them last June.
It's good for morale !
