We had been playing for 85 minutes in Düsseldorf (Germany), and things were starting to smell really bad for the French football team, mired in chronic inefficiency. Seventeen shots had been added to the string of missed opportunities by the Blues since the start of Euro 2024, and each new attempt seemed destined only to weigh down this frustrating tally, synonymous with clumsiness and wasted efforts.
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The road led straight to extra time, and perhaps to penalties, in this round of 16 match against a solid Belgium side who were hardly dangerous, but seemed to have kept something in their veins.
And then the scenario took a turn thanks to an unexpected actor, a player who was criticized throughout his Parisian season, but in whom the coach, Didier Deschamps, never withdrew his confidence: Randal Kolo Muani. Served by N’Golo Kante following an offensive initiated by Théo Hernandez, the striker, who came on in the second half, managed to strike. The shot was deflected into his own goal by the Belgian defender Jan Vertonghen, and the Blues took a decisive advantage (1-0, 85e), opening the way to the quarter-finals. They will face the Portuguese on Friday in Hamburg (at 9 p.m.) for a remake of the Euro 2016 final.
An inefficiency that haunts the French
The top French scorer in this competition is therefore not Kylian Mbappé, who scored (from a penalty) against Poland, but “Own goal”, aka “own goal”, Vertonghen having succeeded Austrian defender Maximilian Wöber, who had thus “scored” for the Blues in their first match. This shows how much the French attackers are struggling in this tournament, and this match against Belgium was no exception. “1-0 is enough for us, claims midfielder Adrien Rabiot. We know that one will be enough to put in the bottom. If it’s like that until the end, that’s fine with us.”
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In a game dominated by France (56% possession), Antoine Griezmann, Kylian Mbappé, Aurélien Tchouaméni and Marcus Thuram often tried their luck, for a terribly low number of shots on target – two. “The most important thing is that it doesn’t stay in the guys’ heads,” had insisted the day before, the French captain about this inefficiency which pursues the French.
But doubt seems to have penetrated the minds, disrupting the precision and dosage cursors, and sending the balls often over the top, sometimes wide. Kolo Muani also failed to get the goal on target, but his shot still deceived Koen Casteels, thanks to “CSC”. A revenge for the one who, in the last minute of extra time in the 2022 World Cup final, could have offered the title to France. Decisive eighteen months later, he has the opportunity to start a new chapter.
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