The Blues wanted to win everything, at least they didn’t lose. After seven straight victories in these Euro 2024 qualifiers, already synonymous with direct qualification for the competition, the France team challenged Greece on Tuesday, November 21, at the Agia Sofia stadium, in the Athens metropolitan area.
At the end of a match in which they were successively a little numb, dominant, dominated then aggressive to return to equality, the Blues, with an eleven reshuffled after the festival against Gibraltar, left their final trip with the point of the match draw (2-2). But without the satisfaction of having achieved a grand slam in these eight qualifying matches. The fault of a surprising Greek team.
In the first period, the “Pirate Ship” initially swayed. First put to sleep by the slow pace of a match without any stakes, France being assured of finishing first and the locals third in group B, the Greeks ended up being surprised.
Griezmann’s two warnings
The Hellenes had however been warned by Antoine Griezmann. The Mâconnais first struck from twenty meters away, forcing goalkeeper Odysséas Vlachodimos to fly away to remove the leather from the frame (15th). Then, well served behind the defense by a very inspired Youssouf Fofana this evening, he found the post of an unacademic recovery.
It was ultimately from Randal Kolo Muani, always so discreet, that the first spark came. Five minutes from half-time, the Parisian, launched deep by a clever deflection from Olivier Giroud, took the ball off his chest before sending a powerful shot under the bar from a tight angle. What he didn’t know was that his spark would reignite the Greek flame.
Returning from the locker room, it was enough for the Greeks to lose a very low ball from Lucas Hernandez to open the scoring with their first shot on target of the match. After seeing two of his teammates successively blocked by William Saliba and Lucas Hernandez, Anastasios Bakasetas inherited the leather at the entrance to the area, which he catapulted with a volley into the goal of Brice Samba, helpless (56th).
Five minutes later, Jules Koundé, still unconvincing in his right lane, was eliminated on a mischievous little bridge from Dimitrios Giannoulis. The latter, precise in the zone of truth, transmitted well behind to Fotis Ioannidis, who only had to finish with a touch of the ball. In five minutes the Blues were overthrown and had conceded more goals than in their first seven playoff games.
Fofana scored a goal and a few points
Before it came from the field, the French reaction arrived from the bench. Didier Deschamps brought in Kinglsey Coman, Jonathan Clauss and Kylian Mbappé. Proof, if any were needed, that the coach refuses to lose, even if the match does not have the slightest sporting stake. Despite the refreshed offensive armada, it was from Fofana that the light came.
Twenty-five meters away, the Monegasque asked no questions before propelling the ball under the crossbar of Odysseas Vlachodimos (74th), whose fingertips were not firm enough to deflect for a corner. “I wanted to show that I could be in this list, I had been coming for quite some time and I didn’t have a lot of [playing] time,” reacted the striker on TF1 after the match.
At 2-2, the blue wave broke and the changes made by “DD” were felt. So much so that the uprights shook three times. Particularly on a deflected cross from Kingley Coman, who licked the near post then, under the effect of the deflection, made a parabola inside the goal, before coming out… touching the second post.
No “goal line technology this evening”, regretted Antoine Griezmann, in reference to video technology useful in such cases. According to TF1, the ball would have indeed returned. “UEFA has a lot of money, they can’t put everything together so that we know if there’s a goal or not. If they want us to play a lot of matches, we ask them for more technology,” grumbled “Grizou”.
In added time, Mbappé, who had recovered his captain’s armband, tried to score the winning goal on the gong, but his powerful shot was deflected by the goalkeeper onto the bar, a few moments before the shot. final whistle does not sound.
