Romain Faivre and the Espoirs beat Russia in the second match of the Euro, March 28, 2021. -

ATTILA KISBENEDEK / AFP

Blueberries on the revival.

Apathetic on Wednesday when they entered the competition against Denmark, the France Espoirs team had a much more complete match against Russia, which they beat 2-0 on Sunday.

Even if he regretted a loss of control in the second period, the coach Sylvain Ripoll was "very happy" with his team, who "found the state of mind which should animate it".

How do you judge the performance of your team this evening after the disappointment of the first match?

We have found the state of mind that should drive us.

With a state of mind like that, we add intensity to the races, to the framing of the wearer, to the projections… And of course, everything is simpler.

We also regained mobility and all that impacted especially our first period, which I really liked.

In the second period, unfortunately, we lost control with technical waste, less mobility.

In the first half we saw things that interest us and then we hung on.

I would have liked us to hold the ball higher but we lost a little control and we found ourselves appealing to the virtues of solidarity which are sometimes necessary.

It's a fairly complete game, with the downside of the second period.

But we had placed ourselves in a situation which was almost eliminatory.

We had to have a reaction and I'm very happy with the reaction the players had.

I would prefer that we were in the action, that's obvious.

But I am very happy with their behavior and their investment.

You had made a lot of changes, notably with the tenure of Konaté or Soumaré.

Can you explain why?

In a three game in seven day formula, I had planned to bring rotation and then I was not satisfied with the first game, with things that did not suit me.

So I decided to bring other options.

Ibra (Konaté), even if he has played less recently with Leipzig, he is someone who has already experienced a Euro with us, in which he was very good.

He brings a lot to the group, he brings the project to life and that's why I maintain my confidence in him.

Soumaré we also know his qualities, he has this going, this impact in the recovery which is very interesting.

We must now drive the point home against Iceland ...

It will go quickly and it will be part of my thinking.

But we have the evidence in front of us on how to approach the games.

We will have to tackle the Iceland match in tonight's arrangements.

We need this victory, it is imperative.

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