The “CSC”, the Blues’ top scorer, has already provided them with some services in the past

FOOTBALL – Qualified, but without glory. The Blues will face Portugal this Friday, July 5 (9 p.m.) in the quarter-finals of the Euro. But if the French team can highlight its iron defense since the beginning of the tournament (only 1 goal conceded, on a penalty), up front, it’s still a grimace soup.

The 3 goals scored in 4 matches remain their lowest total in a major competition since Euro 2012: at the time, the Blues scored 3 goals in total in the group stage and in their quarter-final. Worse, and this is a phrase that we have heard a lot since the round of 16 against Belgium on Monday evening in the media (and probably at the coffee machine at work): the “Own goal”, or “own goal”, is now the best scorer for the Blues in Germany.

Which has also encouraged a good number of humorous tweets praising a certain “Jean-Michel CSC” :

No direct goals during the game

With two own goals scored by the Austrian Maximilian Wöber in group…

…and the Belgian Jan Vertonghen in the 8th final…

… the “Own goal” is therefore better than Kylian Mbappé, who has so far scored a penalty against Poland. No French player has yet scored a single direct goal in play. With this last statistic, it is also the first time that a team has qualified for the quarter-finals of the Euro in this way. The lack of offensive efficiency is thus glaring during this Euro: proof of this is with these 20 French shots, of which only two were on target against Belgium.

But the “Own goal”, which often comes after a real goal opportunity, has already helped the Blues on several occasions in the past in major tournaments. We remember the most recent, that of defender Matt Hummels (Click on the image below to see the goal in video), at Euro 2020. He allowed Les Bleus to win against Germany (1-0) in the first group match and get off to an excellent start.

A heavy trend

In 2018, at the very beginning of the Blues’ victorious campaign at the World Cup held in Russia, it was the Australian Aziz Behich who sealed the defeat of his team (1-2) in the 81st minute. Again during a first group match, which had been particularly sluggish on the part of Didier Deschamps’ men.

To go back just ten years at the most, the 2014 World Cup was particularly prolific in “own goals” in favor of France: one from the Honduran goalkeeper Valladares in the group stage (victory for the Blues 3-0) and another from the Nigerian Yobo in the round of 16 (victory for the Blues 2-0).

The difference is that from this 2014 World Cup to that of 2022, France has scored many more goals in open play after its first four matches: 8 (2014), 6 (2016), 6 (2018), 6 (2021) and 9 (2022).

“We do what we have to do”

“We didn’t lack precision because there were saves from the goalkeeper, but by scoring more, there are more chances of winning matches. I would have been much more worried if we hadn’t had chances. We have the chances, we do what we have to do. I remain positive.”tried to evacuate Didier Deschamps after the match against Belgium, when commenting on the offensive weakness of his players in Germany.

Finally, with these two own goals in their favour on the clock, the Blues are only confirming a major trend in this Euro 2024: already 9 own goals have been scored in the first 42 matches, out of a total of 94 goals scored, representing a share of 8.5%.

The previous Euro had already started the movement with a total of 11 own goals in 51 matches, a record in this area. Before this one, only 9 own goals had been scored in the history of the Euro, between 1960 and 2016. An eloquent statistic, even if far fewer matches were played in the past (from 4 matches in 1960 to 31 in 2012).

It remains difficult to analyze this incongruous statistical data. Indeed, in 2016, for the first Euro with 51 matches (the current format), only three own goals were scored, recalls The Teamor only 2.7% of the 108 goals scored. Even more confusing: during the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, we could see only two “own goals” in an even higher number of matches (64)…

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