The subject caused an increase in tension in the French Football Federation. In February, at the RMC, the national technical director Hubert Fournier declared that he had opened a reflection on the work of penalties in all the selections, based on the observation that the Tricolores were not very successful from the bottom to the top of the age pyramid. And shouts at the voters. “He is in charge and everything starts from him. He will have to offer them a scenario while trying as much as possible to contextualize…
The subject caused an increase in tension in the French Football Federation. In February, at the RMC, the national technical director Hubert Fournier declared that he had opened a reflection on the work of penalties in all the selections, based on the observation that the Tricolores were not very successful from the bottom to the top of the age pyramid. And shouts at the voters. “He is in charge and everything starts from him. He will have to offer them a scenario while trying to contextualize it as much as possible. » Feeling empty, Didier Deschamps replied, who is in charge for the France A team. “I am convinced, and my past as a player gives me certainty, that it is impossible to recreate the same psychological and athletic conditions in training as in a match with 120 minutes of overtime. “FFF chairman Philippe Diallo called the two men and Hubert Fournier made his mea culpa.
The remark remains: the Blues, who return to a direct elimination match against Belgium on Monday in the round of 16 of the European Championship, remain on two failures in the exercise, at the same stage of the European competition in 2021 against Switzerland (3 -3, 5-4 loss ) then in the World Cup final (3-3, 5-3 loss) against Argentina. Each time, a little excitement: the opponent scored everything when Mbappé (three years ago) and Coman then Tchouaméni (18 months ago) failed. Criticized for the lack of preparation, the French staff disagree. Franck Raviot, the goalkeeping coach, says he prepared the preferred zones of marksmen for Hugo Lloris… but that some changed at the last minute. Didier Deschamps explained after the setback in Doha that the hesitation in the choice of shooters was associated with the exit early in the match of those experienced in this area (Antoine Griezmann, Olivier Giroud).
Only seven experienced
Will they be ready this time? “Our desire is to win before we get there,” defenseman William Saliba responded Thursday. Two days later, his counterpart Ibrahima Konaté stressed that the team was “thinking about it”. “We worked on it. Afterwards there is always a factor of luck. Training conditions will never be match conditions,” continued the Liverpool player. In the group of 25 present in Germany, seven have already struck among the professionals during the match: Kylian Mbappé (42 scored out of 52 hits), Olivier Giroud (33 out of 37), Antoine Griezmann (24 out of 37), Marcus Thuram (5 out of 8), Théo Hernandez (4 out of 6), Randal Kolo Muani (3 out of 3 ), Ousmane Dembélé (2 out of 3). At the World Cup, the unlucky heroes were professional neophytes: Coman had never scored (including penalties), Tchouaméni had failed in his only attempt in the Coupe de France against Nantes. But at the Euros, the Tricolores therefore “betrayed” by their leaders.
Perhaps the most important asset ultimately lies in the goals. With 11 penalties saved out of the 54 taken against him during the matches (i.e. 20%), Mike Maignan presents statistics twice as high as Hugo Lloris (10 saved out of 106 in his career, i.e. 10%). The AC Milan keeper stopped Depay’s against the Netherlands in March 2023 for his second number one cap in selection and denied Lewandowski’s first against Poland on Tuesday… before being withdrawn for a foot gone too early. On social networks, Maignan, author of a remarkable start to the tournament, tackled the new rule that allows the shooter to stop in their run-up (except on the last step). History also has it that he only saw one penalty shootout as a professional, with Lille against Valenciennes in an obscure 2016-2017 League Cup 3rd round tie. This time the pressure would be completely different.
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