Some perhaps imagined themselves taking advantage of this week without European Cups to do something else with their Tuesday evening. And yet, this evening will be the occasion of the last match of the year for a French team. Laurent Bonadei's daughters indeed welcome Spain to Nice, in a friendly which looks like a match at the top, on paper. However, this truce is only a new opportunity for the Blues to note the recent lack of enthusiasm around their meetings, even when the opponents are reigning world champions.
Under crowds
On Saturday, the Raymond-Kopa stadium in Angers sadly inscribed its name on the shelves with one of the worst crowds of the past decade. Barely more than 5,000 people came to witness the victory of Eugénie Le Sommer and her gang against Nigeria – when two weeks earlier Ronaldinho gathered three times as many for a charity match in the same stadium. The figure promises to be hungry again this Tuesday in Nice, The Team estimating that around 8,000 spectators should make the trip to an Allianz Riviera which can contain more than 35,000. Lack of overall enthusiasm for the selection, as Didier Deschamps' Blues have also been able to observe in recent weeks? Questionable choice of stadium on the part of the federation, knowing in particular that the Riviera venue is even struggling to fill up for OGCN matches? Still, the findings are not very encouraging.
This reality is not specific to Les Bleues, Aitana Bonmatí and her teammates having made the trip to France knowing that it is not this match which will bring the crowds to their feet on the other side of the Pyrenees. However, they might be surprised to play in such a hollow-sounding stadium, as they are used to playing in smaller enclosures to avoid this kind of inconvenience. This context does not, however, discourage Laurent Bonadei. « The attendance was not exceptional in Angers, but I would still like to thank the people who came because they gave a lot of votesmade a point of greeting the coach after the meeting in front of the press. But we are in a post-Olympic period, in a winter period where there are also a lot of boys' matches. We must ensure that people who do not come can say to themselves: “We may have missed something, a great show, a family trip, a good evening to spend.” And then to see a team that has a smile, that wants to play. »
The game in the face of gloom
This is perhaps the best weapon to combat this ambient gloom: the game offered. This is also the challenge of this series of friendly matches played in the heart of autumn: to allow Bonadei and his staff to start building their project, while turning the page on a turbulent year. Before the Games, 2024 had also started with a Final Four League of Nations ended with a defeat in the final against… the Spanish. Ten months later, the failure of the Olympics and this umpteenth elimination in the quarter-finals of a major tournament weigh heavily on the perception of the selection.
Could this clash against Spain be the perfect opportunity to convince the skeptics, through the spectacle on offer? «(I'm a fan of)a possession game with the use of width, with permutations, perpetual movement. And then a team that settles high on the opponent to dare to enter the area, take risks”Bonadei told us last month, when asked about his tactical ambitions. And for this, what better inspiration than Roja ? “I would say that Spain showed that in the design of the game, the preparation of attacks, they had a certain know-how, he still assured.Now, I think it’s important that we have our own gaming identity.” Enough promises to win back hearts?
Low attendance expected for Les Bleues at the Allianz Riviera in Nice
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