Thomas Siniecki, Media365: published on Tuesday October 15, 2024 at 10:45 p.m.
This was the general idea of the evening in the French ranks: the situation obviously did not settle down on Tuesday evening, but before.
Feelings were mixed on Tuesday evening among the Espoirs, even if the satisfaction of qualifying for the Euro inevitably prevailed despite the defeat to conclude against Austria (1-2) in Nancy. “It was the objective, so we are very happy”, first summarizes the coach Gérald Baticle (for L’Equipe). This qualification validates a good career, if we have it it’s because there have been victories before, so it’s deserved and that’s the main thing.” “It’s the little positive note of the evening ” for Johann Lepenant, a reaction which seems a little disproportionate on the part of the Nantes midfielder but he was still very excited and logically disappointed with his match.
Kalimuendo: “We had to do much better”
“We will have to increase our intensity and do better on several points in order to arrive at the Euro with good ambitions,” concludes the player on loan from Olympique Lyonnais. Arnaud Kalimuendo, scorer at the end of the match to save the honor of the Bleuets, also had difficulty smiling: “The French team must play each edition of the Euro, we will still retain the qualification but we are had to do much better, especially at home.” The French are qualified among the three best runners-up, which therefore allows them to validate their ticket even if they leave first place to Slovenia.
A draw would have ensured this final leadership for the Bleuets, and Baticle is not more conciliatory in the strict analysis of this meeting: “We want to win, something is missing in the way we wanted. We need better offensive animation and more defensive solidity to contain the opponent, initially, then beat them. We threw ourselves at the end, we got a little disorganized and we came back with a score by throwing ourselves into the attack. We didn’t know how to make it happen and press hard when we had control of the ball and the match.” For the successor of Thierry Henry, another former striker who will normally experience his first final phase in the summer of 2025 in Slovakia, it was a question of mentality and this real inability to let go: “We do everything to get out of the stakes, it puts a certain weight on it. It was better after the break, but we obviously have to construct our match in another way. Oppositely, they were valiant and liberated.
