In a three-quarters empty Stade de France and protected by an exceptional security system, the French team obtained its ticket for the quarter-finals of the League of Nations after a sad draw against Israel (0-0) , THURSDAY.
The gloomy atmosphere of the Saint-Denis enclosure, transformed into a bunker to avoid any overflow a week after the violence in Amsterdam on the sidelines of a Maccabi Tel-Aviv match and in the middle of the conflict in the Middle East, did not helped the two teams to free themselves and it was a very dull spectacle witnessed by the 16,611 spectators present, the lowest attendance in history for the Blues in this 80,000-seat stadium.
The world vice-champions can say that they have fulfilled their mission: to collect the point they needed to continue their adventure next March in this competition which neither fans nor players dream of. But apart from its particular context, this meeting, played without notable incident apart from a small crowd movement quickly controlled just after the kick-off, will not leave a lasting memory in terms of the game.
Under the eyes of the President of the Republic Emmanuel Macron, present to “send a message of fraternity and solidarity after the intolerable anti-Semitic acts” in Amsterdam, and his two predecessors Nicolas Sarkozy and François Hollande, the Blues, deprived as in October of their captain Kylian Mbappé, failed to win the game against an opponent they had largely dominated in October in Budapest (4-1). This outing will not help them revive their popularity rating with the public, far from being at its highest after a disappointing Euro-2024.
The shadow of the Real Madrid star hovered over the Stade de France despite his recent setbacks (failed Euro-2024, financial conflict with PSG, laborious integration into Real Madrid, accusations of rape emanating from the Swedish press) and the offensive sector, which also had to do without the services of the injured Ousmane Dembélé, was unable to seriously worry the Israeli defense.
– Technical level too poor –
Michael Olise was again too timid and Bradley Barcola, top scorer in Ligue 1 with PSG (10 goals), was well muzzled. As for Randal Kolo Muani, who has been on a roll lately with the Blues despite his replacement status in Paris, he has been almost non-existent.
Barcola and Kolo Muani thus missed a huge opportunity (43rd) and Israel even almost opened the scoring at the end of the first period. Didier Deschamps' troops can thank Raz Shlomo, unable to regain the ball just in front of Mike Maignan's cage following an eccentric free kick (37th).
Overall, the technical level displayed by France was very poor and the Blues procrastinated too much in front of goal, spoiling several hot situations after the break.
Eduardo Camavinga tried to shake his team on two distant attempts (54th, 64th) and Warren Zaire-Emery (76th) then and Christopher Nkunku (90th + 6) also had a match point, in vain. The French now have one trip left, Sunday in Italy, to try to end this group phase on a good note and this year 2024 which is generally tasteless and to be forgotten as quickly as possible.
kn/cyj
