Didier Deschamps may have seen the glass half full after the burst of pride in his Blues in the last half hour of a crazy match against Spain (4-5), the French team had an answer to give Germany for this small final of the League of Nations.
It is not a World Cup or a euro, but it is not a trivial match. Because historically, a Germany-France has never been shocked like the others. It is a great classic in European football, where these two neighbors marked by the great battles of the past always take pleasure in gauging to have a photograph of their level.
A year and a half ago, Germany had inflicted a lesson in the Blues for baptism on the bench of Julian Nagelsmann. Water has flowed under the bridges, and this Mannschaft has advanced well in its reconstruction project. She tackled this duel with a great ambition, with her status as a host country, when Didier Deschamps and the Blues presented themselves with an eleven still very diminished.
Blues more clinical
The coach did not change his system to 4-2-3-1 with four players with an offensive vocation. Touched against Spain, Ousmane Dembélé was not present at the start, unlike Rayan Cherki, a great winner of this rally after his first masterful selection against La Roja. These choices have borne fruit. More effective in the two areas of truth, the Blues imposed their law on a dominating Germany team on the territorial level, but too imprecise.
The affair could have been wrong in a first pace act, where the Habs crossed some turbulence. The stirring Adeyemi thought obtained a penalty on a duel with Lucas Hernandez, before intervention by the Var (31st). Mike Maignan interposed well on an attempt by Woltemade (43rd), while Wirtz had found the post a few minutes earlier (37th).
Mbappé almost took care of everything
The Merit of the Blues would have been to crisscross the ground well to wait for their moment. It arrived just before half-time, an instant chosen by Kylian Mbappé to unlock the situation of a very nice rolled hooked chain (0-1, 45th+1). After having become a better passer in the history of the Blues on Thursday, the Madrid reached the symbolic bar of the 50 goals in selection, more than a year after his last goal in the game.
But he couldn't stop there. After several spoiled spots in the second period, the former Parisian took advantage of yet another against to distill a caviar to Michael Olise, easy scorer (0-2, 84th). Because she found her usual operating mode, the French team has mastered events. She defended better despite another fright on a goal from Undav finally canceled for a fault on Rabiot (53). And she attacked well, returning to her fundamentals, to exploit the depth in the back of her opponent.
The addition could have been more salty, even, but the essential was ensured. We will now have to learn from this last internship before the start of the school year in September, moment for the Blues and Deschamps to launch the countdown for the great American adventure. There is still work to do.
