Thursday evening at the Parc des Princes, the French team dominated Ukraine (4-0) to validate its qualification for the 2026 World Cup. A clear and reassuring victory, but which was not without lessons, particularly in the offensive compartment. If the Blues showed their collective solidity and their efficiency in finishing, this match also served as a life-size testing ground for a particularly scrutinized quartet: Barcola, Mbappé, Cherki and Olise. Between cautious first periods, moments of doubt and awakening in the second half, the Blues demonstrated that offensive effectiveness depends as much on individual accuracy as on collective coordination.
This match constituted a real test for the French offensive quartet. Rayan Cherki made his return in a number 10 role behind Kylian Mbappé, captain and offensive reference, while Michael Olise, looking for revenge after disappointing performances in October, had to prove that he could hold his place. On the wing side, Bradley Barcola, irregular with PSG recently, benefited from the absence of Ousmane Dembélé to highlight himself and convince Deschamps of his importance in the France group. Each of the four attackers therefore had additional motivation: to be present on the field, to demonstrate their value and to prepare the ground for the rest of the international events.
A mixed result before the real awakening!
The first period highlighted the strengths but also the limitations of the quartet. Olise struggled to be decisive against a compact and well-established Ukrainian defense, while MbappĂ©, underserved, had to work in a vacuum and come up against a dense block. Barcola, for his part, never spared his efforts on the left side and was often the most active offensively, even if his success was limited, while Cherki, mobile and available with 92 balls touched, tried to drive the game but came up against the disciplined Ukrainians. Everyone seemed good in their individual role, but the collective was not yet functioning perfectly, illustrating that there was still work to be done to streamline exchanges and combine effectively. “It was a bit of a complicated first half, but in the second half, we had the penalty which opened the way for us, so they had to come out a little bit and we followed up with quite a few goals. The halftime speech? That it was necessary to put more rhythm, that their objective was to put the match to sleep without disrespecting them. That we got caught in a bit of a trap in the first half, which meant that we started to play a bit like a dilettante. We lose balloons a little nonchalantly. The goal was to always keep the rhythm, try to circulate the ball as much as possible to make the block move, have space to be able to hit, finish our actions. That’s what we did in the second half and to score four goals in one half is still a performance», Detailed Kylian MbappĂ©.
It was in the second act that the quartet finally broke free to become productive. Indeed, Michael Olise found his technical accuracy to shake the nets and was decisive in the offensive phases. Kylian MbappĂ© opened the scoring from the penalty spot and scored an opportunistic double after the work of Ekitike. Despite his replacement by Akliouche, Cherki had already made his mark and contributed to the penalty converted by the Real Madrid scorer. This second period allowed the quartet to show their collective potential, gain confidence and lay the foundations for the future. “There are players who had playing time, it was important. There are injured people at this gathering, too likely, even if it allows me to see other players. But that doesn’t allow me to rehearse as I would have liked. If everyone is there and this is all the harm I wish for myself, it will be difficult to choose. But this oxygenation was important in relation to everything that awaits us, even if I have always done it», Underlined Didier Deschamps at a press conference. In the end, the results remain initially mixed by a timid start to the match, but the final performance is positive. There was food and drink, but above all there were great foundations to work on before the next international events.
