For his first on the bench of the French team, Lucas Chevalier attended a dull match with few opportunities in an empty Stade de France. The Blues, qualified with this draw result (0-0), were unable to get rid of Israel this Thursday.
For their return to the Stade de France, with which they had not had contact for 514 days, the Blues were not able to enjoy a festive evening. Given the context, the spans of the Saint-Denis enclosure sounded hollow. The game will not be any more flamboyant, especially during the first act during which the opportunities were rare. Randal Kolo Muani (19′) and N’Golo Kanté (21′) were at the initiative of the first sparks while the first named and his two offensive friends, Michael Olise and Bradley Barcola, showed great awkwardness in front of the cages (43′) before the break. In the meantime, the French team had almost been showered by Raz Shlomo, who missed his recovery alone in front of goal (36').
Returning from the locker room, Didier Deschamps' men tried to pick up the pace, but the French offensive animation purred again and again. Despite everything, there were two notable situations with a miss from Warren Zaire-Emery (76′), well served from behind, or duels lost by Marcus Thuram (90+4′) then Christopher Nkunku (90+6′) at the very end of the match.
The return of the Blues to the Stade de France therefore ended with a goalless draw (0-0) mixing disappointment and frustration. They still take a point, synonymous with qualification for the quarter-finals of the Nations League. This part was a failure, from its green rectangle to its stands in which only 16,611 spectators gathered. This is the worst crowd in the history of the French team at the Stade de France.
France – Israel: The declarations of the Blues
Executive of the French team, Jules Koundé expressed a certain annoyance at the final whistle: “There’s frustration, anger, a little bit of everything. We didn't have a good match at all. We had chances, but we didn't put in what we needed to, that's the reason why we suckedadmitted the FC Barcelona defender on TF1. The qualification? I don't know if we should rejoice after this match… Qualification assured, that's the only positive point. Italy and first place on Sunday? We will have to do much better if we want to win in Italy. Put a lot more intensity and aggression, and then finish well”he insisted.
The feeling is similar with Ibrahima Konaté: “There is a huge disappointment, a huge frustration. In this match, we dominated, we had a lot of opportunities to be able to win the match. Despite (the fact) that we don't lose and that we are qualified, we shouldn't be proud of thatannoyed the Liverpool central defender on TF1. On the pitch, we had a huge chance of winning, we lacked efficiency. We will have to do better in the next matches. We have to be happy to be qualified, it's a good thing to progress to the quarter-finals. But on the other hand we have to learn from our mistakes, know what we did less well today in order to be better in the next matches. »
“Qualification is the least we can do”
With this goalless draw, the French team recorded its 4th result of this type (0-0): “We remained on 3 victories. I'm not going to jump through the roof by going 0-0 here at home, whether it's Israel or anyone else. The least we can do is ensure qualification. […] We could have done more. From the moment we don't score, against a regrouped opponent, who gains time… We lacked efficiency, we had the chances even if we had a “quiet” start to the match, not energetic enough . We did more in the second (period) but hey…”concluded Didier Deschamps on TF1.
France 0-0 Israel (0-0)
5th day of the Nations League – Thursday November 14 – Stade de France
But(s) : /
Warning(s): Camavinga (35′) for France, Jehezkel (49′), Nachmias (70′) for Israel
France : Maignan – Koundé, Konate, Upamecano, T. Hernandez – Zaire-Emery (Thuram 78′), Kante (c), Camavinga (Rabiot 71′), Olise (Coman 70′), Kolo Muani, Barcola (Nkunku 71′)
Israel : Peretz – Goldberg (c), Shlomo, Nachmias – Abada (Haziza 80′), Jehezkel (Khalaili 84′), Abu Fani, Jaber – Gloukh (Oeretz 84′), Solomon (Saba 72′) – Turgeman (David 73′)
