Paul Rouget, Media365: published on Friday September 6, 2024 at 9:27 a.m.
Having defeated Colombia (1-0), the French blind football team will face Argentina in the final of the Paris Paralympic Games, which knocked out the Brazilian favourite on penalties.
Already a scorer against Turkey in the last group match of the Blues of blind football in this Paralympic tournament in Paris, Frédéric Villeroux did it again on Friday in the semi-finals, scoring the only goal of the match against Colombia (1-0). To offer the Tricolores a second final after the one in 2012 lost against Brazil. Thanks to a powerful strike under the bar in the second half (26th), from the man who is nicknamed “the Zidane of blind football” and who impressed again during this match at the foot of the Eiffel Tower, in front of nearly 12,000 spectators. “We have a little monster called Frédéric Villeroux, our “capi”, our number 10. He leads this team like a true maestro. We are here, we complete, we play with him”, emphasizes for France Info his teammate Hakim Arezki. Still as modest, the interested party is already focused on the final against Argentina, Saturday evening (8 p.m.). A match that could be the last for the Montpellier native (41 years old). “I think it will be the end, yes, the body is starting to sting. I’m not recovering as much and as well,” Villeroux admits.
Deschamps “fully behind them”
In the final, we will therefore not be treated to a reunion against the Brazilians, who have won every Paralympic blind football tournament since the first edition in 2004. Having beaten the Bleus 3-0 in the group stage, with the famous silent wave, they lost at the end of the suspense against the Argentinians (0-0, 3-4 on penalties), in a remake of the Athens and Tokyo finals, following a final attempt on the post by Ricardinho. A France-Argentina final, like at the last Qatari World Cup. And they will be able to count on the support of the French team coach, Didier Deschamps, who had given his opinion on blind football a few hours earlier. “They had me involved, it was a pleasure and that’s when you realise the complexity, the difficulty. They have mastered it, they are used to it, they have reference points. It had an impact on me because suddenly, I no longer had any reference points. There is a craze, they are there. They have the possibility, I hope, of winning a medal. Fully behind them”, confided “DD” on the eve of Kylian Mbappé and his teammates’ Nations League match against Italy.
