It was not the best game of football you will have watched this year, but for the French, it won’t matter. After 120 minutes, the game would be decided on penalties, and this is where France would come good. Goalkeeper Alphonse Areola stood tall and made himself the hero, saving Uruguay’s first two penalties and taking the pressure off his teammates as they calmly found the back of the net; Rennes’ Dimitri Foulquier would have the pleasure of scoring France’s fourth and starting the celebrations.
The game will not be remembered by many, but the day before Bastille day will be one to remember for this French team, winning the Under 20 World Cup for the first time in their history. This is an exciting group of young players and perhaps the winning mentality can filter upwards and see them become a force in international football once again. Who knows, we just hope they don’t play as bad as this again.
With only one forced change coach Pierre Mankowski decided to end the tournament with the team that started the competition against Ghana. Samuel Umtiti’s red card in the semi-final meant he would miss out, and the towering Mahamadou Sarr of Lyon would take his place alongside Kurt Zouma in the centre of defence.
The rest of the team pretty much picked itself, with Florian Thauvin’s two goals against Ghana that sealed Les Bleus place in the final securing his place and Yaya Sanogo on four goals would look to try and win the tournament’s Golden Boot. Uruguay would start slight underdogs after beating Iraq on penalties in the other semi-final. After playing an extra hour of football than their opponents it would become a final of attrition for the South Americans. Surprisingly Juan Verzeri gave a start to tall centre-forward Felipe Avenatti, obviously hoping to combat the power and size of the French defence, and give Uruguay an instant outlet high up the pitch.
France started the better of the two sides, a lovely run from Pogba after eight minutes created their first chance, the Juventus midfielder picked the ball up from 30 yards outside his own box and after slight touches from Geoffrey Kondogbia and Sanogo, Pogba found himself on the edge of the Uruguay penalty area, but his shot was weak and straight at the keeper. Much was expected from Pogba pre-match, at times he has looked head and shoulders above anyone else in this tournament, but that’s the problem – at times – his consistency leaves a lot to be desired; this will need to improve if he is to become a world-beater. After that run we saw very little of Pogba for the rest of the half.
Initially the first 15 minutes saw France take control but then the South American side started to press the play that little bit quicker and gained control of both the midfield, and the game. Their dominance nearly paid off instantly when Sarr failed to clear a long pass, a mis-kick followed by a poor back header let Nicolas Lopez in on goal and it was up to Alphonse Areola to provide the point-blank save after 20 minutes.
No doubt that France dominated the possession but Uruguay definitely had the better of the chances. The referee blew the whistle on a goalless first half and coach Verzeri would have been very happy with his side, keeping the midfield narrow, smothering the France attack and keeping everything in front of their back four. Not the best 45 minutes of football but a intriguing tactical battle.
Uruguay’s dangerman in the first half was the very quick Lopez, and he started the second half in the same vein, playing on the shoulder of the last defender and trying to get in behind. Luckily France could rely on the pace of Dimitri Foulquier and Kurt Zouma to keep him at bay.
Injury to Jean-Christophe Bahebeck forced the first change of the game for either side, and in fairness he had not had the best of games, and Mankowski would have been hoping that Nice winger Alexy Bosetti could make an impact. The forward had quite a few chances against Uzebekistan but still couldn’t break his duck – never a better chance than in a final; it came late on but he lashed his shot wide and high.
Lopez had another chance in the second when he skewed his left-foot shot wide of the post. Best chance of the game came to Lopez’ strike partner Avenatti, when he was found by a beautiful reverse pass by Arrascaeta but his close range shot was saved by the out-rushing Areola.
France then went up the other end and midfielder Jordan Veretout nearly won it all, his stunning right-foot effort swerved beautifully and looked destined to find the top corner, but Guillermo de Amores made a great save and dashed French hopes. The inevitable happened and normal time ended goalless, unfortunately we would have to watch another 30 minutes of stalemate.
Sadly extra time followed the same pattern that we saw in normal time, the most entertaining moment fell to Jordan Veretout again, but this was the ball smacking off his head on the edge of the box and near enough knocking him out. Then French fans were left scratching their heads when substitute Bosetti was taken off for Axel Ngando, a bizarre decision from Mankowski, when a move to take off Veretout, Thauvin or Kondogbia would have made more sense. Soon after Lucas Digne left the field on a stretcher and Saint-Etienne’s Pierre Yves Polomat would take his place, nothing of note would happen before we were all put out of our misery and penalties would decide the winner of the Under-20 World Cup.
Always a cruel way to lose any game of football, but the levels of heartbreak are ramped up when it’s an international final at any age group. There is always a hero and a villain, and it was the French goalkeeper Areola who would make himself a hero, saving penalties from Velasquez and Arrascaeta, as Pogba, Veretout, Ngando and finally Foulquier would score for Les Bleuets and seal victory in the 2013 FIFA Under 20 World Cup.
A great achievement for Pierre Mankowski and the young French players. Let’s just hope it’s not the last international trophy this group gets their hands on.