Yesterday, l'équipe de France was back in action for their last game before the upcoming Euro tournament, where they figure to be one of the relative favorites. France are not only the defending World Cup champions, but they also made it to the Euro Final back in 2016, although they ultimately fell short to Portugal once there.
Last week, Les Bleus earned a convincing 3-0 win against Wales, and looked solid in the process. Yesterday, they earned another victory, and by the same margin, but this time against Bulgaria.
Antoine Griezmann scored the first goal in the 29th minute, giving France the 1-0 lead. That would prove to be the margin through the rest of the half, as well.
France's defense would prove to be stellar throughout the match, allowing their 1-0 lead to hold up close to the end of the game.
It was Olivier Giroud who broke through for France in the 83rd minute, scoring the insurance goal, giving Les Bleus a seemingly insurmountable lead with time quickly growing short.
Giroud would score one more minutes later, in the 90th minute, putting any doubts away and putting the game on ice in favor of France.
The defending World Cup champions earned a second straight win in the warm-ups, and are at least looking good as they enter the Euro. That is a good thing, because they are going to have to be on top of their game when they have the big showdown against one of their biggest rivals, Germany, in a little less than a week on June 15th. Germany is, of course, a superpower in the sport in their own right, and won the World Cup tournament in 2014, eliminating France in the process. France exacted a measure of revenge, knocking Germany out of the Euro in 2016. This will be a colossal opening match for both teams, and indeed, for the Euro tournament in general, as two of the seeming favorites entering the tournament face off against one another right from the start.
The last time that France was in a "group of death" was the 1978 World Cup. (Coincidentally, Hungary was one of their opponents in that group, providing the only victory of that tournament for Les Bleus.) The other two teams in the group were perennial powerhouse Italy and the host country, Argentina, who of course went on to win the tournament. France lost each of those games 2-1. But then Les Bleus weren't as good then as they are now, in part because I think they tended to psych themselves out whenever they faced elite opposition in high-stake games. The current French team has far more poise, confidence and experience, and in addition to having loads of talent and depth at every position have arguably achieved the perfect balance between insufficient confidence and overconfidence. Stay tuned...
ReplyDelete*high-stakes
ReplyDelete*has arguably achieved
Yes, they certainly have achieved far more success than back then, so let's hope that they enjoy more success this time around, as well.
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