So there was a Football match this Thursday evening at the Stade de France, where the Blues had not established their quarters for seventeen months, an eternity on their scale. It could have been a great party, a special evening to enjoy, but the very political context of this high-risk France-Israel took precedence over everything else. Finally, the rest, that is to say this tricolor team without its mascot Antoine Griezmann, without its captain Kylian Mbappé, missing for two gatherings, without really any soul, and ultimately incapable of putting football back in the forefront in content with little or nothing. She couldn’t do better than a gloomy 0-0 loss against Israel, at the end of an unnamed purge, which will allow her to reach the quarter-finals of a tournament in which everyone fuck off next March.
Unrest in the stands, not on the pitch
There were officially 16,611 of them who made the trip to Saint-Denis for this strange occasion, without being able to label them as privileged. It was not a chance to be at the stadium this Thursday evening, and it is undoubtedly no coincidence that eyes quickly migrated towards the North stand, where a crowd movement at the level of the second ring – occupied in party by Israeli supporters – maintained the silence and worried those present. It took a security cordon and a few evacuations, within sight of binoculars, to return to relative calm. The most distracted did not miss much, as the Blues announced the color of the match in their start by coming up against a low block, without ideas or creativity (24 shots, 8 on target, around thirty crosses). Daniel Peretz was still able to warm his gloves on a difficult header from Randal Kolo Muani (19e) and above all by presenting a firm hand to captain N’Golo Kanté (21e). “Free the hostages”we could hear echoing several times on the Israeli side during a soporific first period, without the arabesques of Bradley Barcola in the opposing area (without danger at the end) warming up the atmosphere. It’s often the same refrain for Didier Deschamps’ Blues against this kind of team. This time, he lacked a technical touch in midfield, connections and genius to worry a tight opposing defense.
“We’re pissing ourselves off”
The Tricolores moved a lot to the right, relying in particular on Jules Koundé and Michael Olise, the latter having had the merit of being restless, without being more precise in the gestures that matter. The Blues had three chances to score before the break, but the Bavarian and Kolo Muani were blocked, before Barcola completely missed (43e). The best opportunity was even Israeli, following an eccentric free kick extended by Dor Turgeman and leaving Raz Shlomo to unscrew his recovery in an ideal position (36e). The visitors were too limited to strike quickly and hard in transitions, but they tried and the French did not change their face, neither after the break, nor after the multiple changes of the coach.
We understood that it was too much when, in the middle of other political songs (“Hamas fuck you”for example), the Irrésistibles Français, usually so patient, decided to launch a more conventional “We’re pissing ourselves off”. They saw nothing pleasant on the pitch, where the Blues kept beating around the bush and the surface. They had to take their chances from afar. Eduardo Camavinga even tried it three times (54e65e67e), Olise was countered again (63e), and Peretz pulled out all the stops to finish: the first time by opposing a crushed shot from Warren Zaire-Emery (75e), a second less heroic in the face of a helmet hit from Marcus Thuram (90e+3) and finally a third at the end of this endless evening in front of Christopher Nkunku after a new service from Kingsley Coman, author of a good entry (90e+6), to the cheers of the Israeli public. Football is political, that’s for sure and, in the meantime, the French team rhymes more and more with indifference.
France-Israel is officially the lowest attendance in the history of the Stade de France
