The fans may be disappointed when super striker Kylian Mbappe cannot score to equalize and surpass the number of goals for France of the legendary Michel Platini (42 goals). But the fact is that he still imprinted his shoes on both of Les Bleus’ goals against the Republic of Ireland. France won all 5 matches in EURO 2024 qualifying.
France showed superior strength in Group B with their 5th consecutive win, along with Portugal, the two teams that have not yet conceded a goal in the EURO 2024 qualifying round. With 15 points in hand, Les Bleus only need 1 more victory to be sure to be in Germany next summer.
Fans of the blue shirt team are always waiting for other stars in coach Didier Deschamps’ squad to score. And this morning, they saw the goals of Aurélien Tchouameni and Marcus Thuram. If the Real Madrid midfielder has scored his third goal for Les Bleus after 26 games, the rookie striker of Inter has also opened an account for the Gaulois Rooster after 10 games.
Before the Republic of Ireland, fans may be disappointed with the performance of captain Mbappe. However, he imprinted his shoes on both goals of the Lam team. The first was an assist for Tchouameni to score. It shows Mbappe’s subtle and very intelligent observation. When the Republic of Ireland defense thought he would launch a shot straight into Gavin Bazunu’s goal, Mbappe suddenly passed back to Tchouameni to score from a super long shot.
In the 48th minute, Mbappe’s shot hit an Irish defender, and Thuram was there in time to hit an unstoppable shot, sealing a 2-0 victory. Both situations showed a familiar superstar quality of Mbappe: despite not achieving the desired goalscoring record, he still contributed to Les Bleus’ victory in different ways. That is exactly what the French team always needs in a star who always knows how to shine at the right time.
With an assist for Tchouameni, Mbappe has 4 goals and 2 assists in 5 matches in EURO 2024 qualifying, and also increases the streak of goals or assists for France to 14. Obviously, despite scoring goals. or not, he still creates and contributes to the overall play of the team.
This is also the first time Coach Deschamps’s French team has had such a perfect qualifying journey for a major tournament (EURO and World Cup). Les Bleus won all 5 matches, scored 11 goals, and did not concede any goals. There are many reasons why the French team has kept a clean sheet until now.
Firstly, Deschamps has a goalkeeper in very good form. 4/5 matches in the EURO 2024 qualifiers were started by Mike Maignan (against Gibraltar, Brice Samba started) and he always made amazing saves, entered and exited extremely reasonably, bravely, simply, and effectively. . He is even a much better penalty-killing goalkeeper than his predecessor Hugo Lloris (Maignan successfully blocked a penalty kick in the 4-0 win over the Netherlands on March 25).
Second, Deschamps possesses a defensive line by moving forward. The defense system is mostly played in the style of… Germany (Dayot Upamecano, Lucas Hernandez, Benjamin Pavard…) always defended by advancing. In the victory over the Republic of Ireland, the midfield duo Upamecano – Lucas Hernandez was arranged to play very high, having “spent the whole evening to take good care of the visitors’ feet” so that when given the opportunity, they both put the ball up quickly. in front, as far away from Maignan’s goal as possible.
And finally, Les Bleus now plays quite firmly in the midfield with an impressive second-line defense. In the match against the Republic of Ireland, the duo Tchouameni – Adrien Rabiot defended and escaped pressing well, so the ball was always rotated forward. Even when Deschamps put substitutes on the field, Les Bleus maintained the game, the intensity and they often won in duels.
Look at a Dembele ready to tackle the ball, Antoine Griezmann is still constantly making interceptions like a… central defender, Thuram is plying his trade to “follow” very effectively the opponent’s defensive players.
