The Blues obtained Sunday, March 28 in Kazakhstan the victory (2-0) they had come to seek, a logical result which launches them in their qualifying campaign for the World-2022.
It was not until the second day, and a long journey in the country of Central Asia, not far from the Russian launch base of Baikonur, to see the putting into orbit of the French team.
Ousmane Dembélé (20th) and Sergei Maliy (44th, csc) allowed him to ensure what was the minimum union on the soil of the 122nd Fifa nation.
But four days after the disappointing draw against Ukraine (1-1), the team of Didier Deschamps finally shifts into high gear, to temporarily take first place in his group.
Admittedly, Qatar is still very far away, and the ranking anecdotal at this stage of the competition, but the reigning world champions are where their status requires them to be.
Victory of our Blues against Kazakhstan (2-0).
Last match of the rally next Wednesday at 8:45 p.m. against Bosnia-Herzegovina 👊 #KAZFRA #FiersdetreBleus pic.twitter.com/P7kG8RDB7t
- French team ⭐⭐ (@equipedefrance) March 28, 2021
In Sarajevo on Wednesday, facing a tough Bosnia-Herzegovina, the Blues will have to prove that they can keep it until the end.
They will travel there with the reinforced conviction of being very solid outside their bases.
In Kazakhstan, they pocketed a seventh consecutive away victory, tying the record set between 1990 and 1991.
Neither the 4,700 kilometers of journey, nor the cold, nor the synthetic turf, nor the time difference (four hours) have drawn a fault in the block designed by Deschamps.
Not even the fact of having aligned an bis team: holders at Nursoultan, only Hugo Lloris and Antoine Griezmann had started against Ukraine, by virtue of the turnover announced by the coach.
His policy has benefited players whose place is not 100% certain for the Euro to come this summer, starting with Ousmane Dembélé.
For his first tenure in two and a half years, the "mosquito" felt at home under the roof of the Astana Arena.
In his usual blasting style, the Barcelona opened the scoring with a cross strike from the left.
The decisive pass is signed Thomas Lemar, another contender for the great continental meeting of the year.
This is his second "assist" in 23 caps.
The Guadeloupe could even have scored his fifth goal if he had chosen to strike rather than attempt a cross for Anthony Martial, while he was in shooting position (43rd).
Penalty missed for Mbappé
For the defense, and the hinge composed by Kurt Zouma and Clément Lenglet, lined up together for the third time, it will surely be necessary to come back, Kazakhstan having crossed the middle line too few times ...
The selection of Central Asia even helped the Blues, with a goal against their own camp, headed by Maliy, on a corner from Antoine Griezmann.
This prevented the Blues from living a second period under the threat of a twist of fate, like the one that had allowed Ukraine, who did not frame any shot during the match, to equalize.
But the French should certainly have done more, and in particular Kylian Mbappé, who entered in the 59th minute.
The Parisian, criticized for his lackluster performance on Wednesday, missed a penalty, stopped by Aleksandr Mokin, who started on the right side (75th).
The goalkeeper had interposed earlier (70th) on a first attempt by the Parisian, the current symbol of the difficulties in the offensive animation of the world champions, still visible on Sunday.
“Kyky”, well launched, lost a new duel in added time against the goalkeeper of Tobol Kostanay (90th + 1).
All is not yet perfect, therefore, but the essential was elsewhere for the Blues, finally victorious.
A success in Bosnia on Wednesday, and the flight plan will be respected before the Euro.
With AFP
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