The France team faces Switzerland on Monday for their third and last group match.
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Anne-Christine POUJOULAT / AFP / POOL
After these two successes against Norway and Austria, the Blues are qualified for the next round even before facing Switzerland on Monday night.
However, after two complicated matches in early January in qualifying for Euro 2022, the French team seemed a step below the favorites.
With a newfound defense, two goalkeepers on fire and an ideal collective state of mind, the Blues can now have great ambitions in this World Cup.
The French team of new coach Guillaume Gille has mastered the art of the opposite.
Arrived in Egypt after two very complicated matches against Serbia at the beginning of January in the qualifying for the next Euro, it's nothing to say that the Blues did not have the favor of the predictions for this World Cup 2020, as we had seen in a previous article.
But after two convincing successes against the Norwegian vice-world champion and against Austria and a qualifying 'already in the pocket for the next round - even before playing Switzerland on Monday - it is clear that we are was planted in large widths.
To understand what may have happened in the meantime, just listen to the players and the manager in the minutes following the victory against Norway.
“Clearly, this match was a click, did not hesitate to say Kentin Mahé.
Our preparation was not the best, we were in difficulty in many sectors.
Winning with style against a favorite Norwegian team, it gives us the banana and it starts us very well in this world championship.
The two meetings against Serbia have warned us.
Tactically, we were in place, now we also had to put our nose in it, put our heads on the ground and that's what we did.
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The Blues are launching their World Cup perfectly by typing Norway entry via @ 20minutesSport https://t.co/p2Fb8qa7Aq
- 20 Minutes Sport (@ 20minutesSport) January 14, 2021
Norway as a trigger
Luka Karabatic goes further by speaking of a group which was "scared" after the matches against the Serbs.
A fear "which prompted us to take the plunge, to stop asking questions.
We no longer had a choice, we had to let go, ”he confided at the microphone of beIN Sport on Thursday.
Without going so far as to say that this team took its first two games of the year lightly, the new boss Guillaume Gille affirms that his players have gone "in competition mode, in World mode".
“We entered this world championship without ulterior motives, without calculating, by completely surrendering and I believe that these were the essential ingredients for the attitude or the image that we were able to convey, which were a slightly bad, gradually fade and a certain level of performance is found.
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So much for the immediate sensations.
After a second success in a row against Austria on Saturday, let's get into the details to understand what really changed in this group.
We can already say that the players have finally had a little time to work with a whole gang, which had not been the case with the absences of certain executives engaged with their clubs in the Final 4 of the Champions League. end December.
If he estimated Sunday evening during the pre-match press conference that "everyone in this group needs to assert themselves a little more, to defend their convictions and to speak out, all of this in the service of collective and the project ”, Guillaume Gille also felt he was satisfied“ with the work done in recent days ”by his group.
“There was a questioning on the part of the players and today I feel a lot of desire on their part to enter this new project.
”Installed behind his computer in video, we feel Guillaume Gille clearly more relaxed and smiling than before the departure for Egypt.
Everyone finds their place
Among the real satisfactions, a certain defensive solidity found.
"That's what makes competitions like this one win, and the France team has always relied on good defense," says the coach.
We therefore wanted to find this solidity, this launching base.
It is a site which continues to be fallow, there are still many things to develop, but we are moving in the right direction ”.
He and his staff were also able to rely on all 16 players sent to Egypt, which allowed this group with a lack of experience to taste the reality of the matches, to have a little experience and to build up a bundle of confidence for the future.
“The bench, for me, is a bit obsolete concept, explains the coach.
We have a group of 16, this 32-team competition is a real marathon (we can play up to nine games in a little over nine weeks if we go to the end).
Being able to benefit from the effective ensemble when you have a group of such quality is essential.
"" I think that the rotations allowed everyone to discover themselves in this world championship like Jean-Jacques Acquevillo, whose first steps [against Austria] were made and that really made us happy , shifts Remili.
We saw him on his first goal, we really all jumped because we are happy that everyone can make a contribution to the building and to the team.
"
A united group that pulls in the same direction
This explosion of joy from the bench, a little in the sauce of what is done in the NBA, also says a lot about the state of mind of the group that Guillaume Gille is shaping.
“I love the state of mind that there is in this team”, confided Luc Abalo in conf Sunday evening, followed closely by Nicolas Tournat, who is simply playing his second big competition after Euro 2018 in Croatia.
"We feel a united group, we get along really well, we work really well together, we have to continue in this way", he said before evoking the frenzied parts of "quinche and tarot" during the long ones. bus trips between their hotel and the training center.
Finally, a word about the guards, without whom nothing would be possible in the event of failure.
After the heroic match of 31-year-old blue boy Wesley Pardin on Thursday, Vincent Gérard took over against Austria by also finishing man of the match.
"It's nice to see our two goalkeepers pulling the plug in a good way," said Nedim Remili after the second French success.
“We are all projected towards a common goal, it is he who must predominate, noted the Parisian goalkeeper on Saturday night.
In the end, I don't care [to be # 1 or # 2), as long as it goes well for everyone and we get to the end.
“That's all we want them to do anyway.
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