France misses the grand slam after its draw against Greece

Published on : 11/21/2023 – 11:09 p.m.

4 mins

No grand slam for France, who let it slip away by conceding two goals in five minutes in Greece (2-2), but players like scorers Randal Kolo Muani and Youssouf Fofana scored points on Tuesday, November 21 at Athens in qualifying for Euro-2024.

The results are therefore not perfect. On the negative side, defensive generosity allowed the Greeks, hardly dangerous until then, to score in quick succession through Tasos Bakasetas (56) and Fotis Ioannidis (61′), their most active attacker. On the positive side, this refusal of defeat symbolized by this dull strike from Youssouf Fofana (74′), after the opening score from a closed angle by Kolo Muani (42′).

France’s Kylian Mbappé, who started on the bench before replacing Kolo Muani (64′), will perhaps miss first place in the Fifa rankings, the last accounting objective set by Adrien Rabiot. For it to regain the throne, Argentina would have to lose in Brazil on the night of Tuesday to Wednesday.

France, already qualified and seeded, does not complete its journey with an eighth victory in eight matches. But there remained the more individual objectives. Among the players who had the most to prove in this match, the best deal is for Fofana.

Fofana high level

The Monegasque delivered a high-level performance, having already replaced injured debutant Warren Zaire-Emery after a quarter of an hour against Gibraltar (14-0).

In Nice, Youssouf Fofana scored his first goal in 14 caps. He doubled the bet for 15^e, and also made people appreciate his sense of passing by throwing Giroud on the goal of “RKM” or on this deep launch for “Grizou”, whose race he had read well, but the shot from the left of the Madrilenian hit the post (33′). And as usual, he was generous with the recovery.

Kolo Muani also did well, with his second goal in thirteen caps. Not very successful with Paris Saint-Germain, RKM had not scored in blue since the semi-final of the 2022 World Cup France-Morocco (2-0), followed by this lost face-to-face with Emiliano Martinez against Argentina in the final (3-3, 4 penalties to 2) which still haunts him. His goal is beautiful and smacks of confidence, a shot from a tight angle after a deft delivery from Olivier Giroud.

Other players shone less. Associated for the first time in the hinge with Lucas Hernandez, William Saliba delivered a good duel to Fotis Ioannidis, but he did not redress the situation when the defense swayed.

Dembélé goes through

Brice Samba, for his second selection, was not at fault on the goals, but he was not decisive, like Mike Maignan in Ireland to preserve the 1-0.

Ousmane Dembélé got through it. He even seemed nervous, like his altercation with Andreas Bouchalakis, which earned them both a booking (34′). And he completely missed another shot alone against the goalkeeper (36′). Certainly, he was offside, but this new feverish gesture in front of goal is not good for his confidence.

Kingsley Coman scored more points on the right side of the attack in this rally, with his double against Gibraltar.

The sides of the defense also cracked. Théo Hernandez lost a ball at the origin of the goal of captain Tasos Bakasetas, who lodged a shot into the side net making Hagia Sophia, the AEK Athens stadium, roar.

The supporters’ kop was empty, replaced by a “respect” banner, so as not to allow the ultras of the capital’s great rivals, Panathinaikos and Olympiakos Piraeus, to take advantage of the national team’s meeting to damage it. …

Despite this void, the explosion was even stronger on the second Greek goal, five minutes later, when Dimitris Giannoulis brought down Jules Koundé, the other full-back, to serve Ioannidis in the area.

The Greeks prepared well for the March play-offs, avoiding defeat despite a final deflected shot from Coman which seemed to have crossed the line (90+4) and another powerful strike from Kylian Mbappé slammed on the bar in the process.

With AFP