Fantastic France give Spaniards ‘Les Bleus’
Spain 0-1 France, Sunday 19th June 2016
Spain 0-1 France, Sunday 19th June 2016
In an entertaining and pulsating encounter at the Cardiff City stadium, it was France that came out on top in this battle of total football. The game was much anticipated, and didn’t let the neutrals down despite producing only one goal, with some beautiful interplay on show and setting a great example for the watching youth of how this sport is meant to be played. In the wake of this result, Thierry Zvunka’s men have been installed as clear favourites to win the competition, after an impressive display.
Both sides started the match with a 4-2-3-1 setup, but there was one key difference – believing that Gourcuff was the major threat for France, Rafa Benitez elected to position his central midfielders much deeper than his counterpart. It was a move that would backfire spectacularly, affording the marauding ‘Les Bleus’ far too much space in midfield. Encouraged by this, Zvunka encouraged his players to constantly roam around the pitch in search of space, which caused the Spanish zonal marking system all sorts of problems.
Zvunka’s men took control from the first whistle, and almost scored within 3 minutes of kick-off. From a scramble in the Spanish penalty area, caused by a harmless floating cross, the ball broke out to ball winner Yann M’Vila – unfortunately, his shot drifted just over the bar, having rooted Iker Casillas to the spot. The keeper was shaky in the opening stages, and his confidence wasn’t helped by the next attempt on the Spanish goal: Moussa Sissoko exchanged passes with the drifting Karim Aït-Fana, before launching a bending drive towards Casillas’ net…the Madrid man was caught off-guard, and was mightily relieved to see the ball nestle in the side netting.
Spain were struggling to gain a foothold in the match, and things weren’t getting any easier for their defence. Karim Benzema began to drop deep periodically, dragging the centre halves apart, and opening gaps. On 16 minutes, the frontman created space for a sauntering Moussa Sissoko, who cracked a powerful shot off the crossbar. Moments later, the French midfield retained possession with some neat interplay on the edge of the opposition box, almost toying with the Spaniards. Waiting for their moment, Jérémy Ménez got his chance with a poor challenge from Sergio Ramos, cutting in and slipping the ball behind the defence. Met by Benzema, a certain goal was denied by an incredible point-blank save from Casillas. In one fell swoop, he had regained his confidence and began barking out orders to his team-mates.
Iker Casillas overcame a nervy start to grab the man of the match award
Inspired by their resurgent captain, La Furia Roja rose to make a competitive game develop. Minutes after being completely under the cosh, a free kick offered some welcome restbite. Sergio Canales whipped the ball in, finding Marcano leaping in the box, but he could only nod wide of the target. Mamadou Sakho’s presence in the air was enough to put him off, and it would become a familiar problem for the Spanish attack to try and combat. Then, approaching the half hour mark, Spain undid all their hard work in a moment of madness. Collecting possession on the left hand side, France again caused problems with the amount of roaming from Ménez, Gaël Clichy and Yoann Gourcuff. Eventually, the latter was put in behind the back line, and stupidly brought down from behind by Cesc Fàbregas. Surprisingly, young stopper Enzo Bocquet stepped up, but he was calm and composed in thumping home past a despairing dive from Casillas. Bocquet had his first international goal, and ‘Les Bleus’ had the vital first goal.
As the half drew to a close, Zvunka’s men continued to relentlessly pile on the pressure. Every single clearance seemed to be won by M’Vila in the holding role, and he set up the final chance with such a header. The ball came to midfield partner Sissoko, who played a neat triangle of passes with Gourcuff and Aït-Fana. Collecting the ball on the right flank, Aït-Fana then cut inside and attacked left back Monterde before clipping a through ball through the legs of Piqué. Benzema was lurking, but was once again denied by an inspired Iker Casillas from 6 yards. The captain was leading by example, but changes were needed to his side if they were to come back, and Benitez took action at half-time. Switching to an orthodox 4-4-2, Spain came out for the second period with a renewed vigour and purpose, and it was to be a much more even 45 minutes of football.
Benzema was out of luck once again, facing another goalkeeper in form
Worryingly for France, goalscorer Bocquet picked up a knock on the hour mark, and was forced to come off. Phillippe Méxes was thrown on to steady the ship, but the gaffer was noticeably concerned. After an M’Vila freekick which drifted wide, La Furia Roja began to attack with purpose, exposing the new defensive pairing at the heart of the French team. However, ‘Les Bleus’ began to hit on the counter, and almost doubled their lead: Gaël Clichy stole the ball from an out-of-sorts Fabregas, and immediately fed Benzema. Turning quickly, the frontman drove towards the opposition goalmouth; surrounded by three defenders, he pulled the trigger from 20 yards, but got his shot all wrong…it was a warning to Benitez and his side, but they had emerged unscathed.
With the clock ticking, Spain had to find a breakthrough, and fast. Taking a leaf out of Benzema’s book, David Villa almost grabbed the equaliser by dropping off the defensive line and lashing a first-time attempt at goal – luckily for Hugo Lloris, the ball clipped the crossbar and stayed out, before Sakho cleared the danger with Torres lurking. Just minutes later, France were all at sea once more, with Fabregas sliding a pass behind Clichy into the path of Villa. Lloris was alert and ready this time, deflecting the ball away for a throw-in. It seemed as if Zvunka’s men were struggling to hang on, and the manager decided to make changes to his side, dropping deeper into a 4-4-1-1 setup.
The success of this new formation was in the personal changes that accompanied it – with Sissoko having run his race, Thierry Zvunka turned to Mathieu Flamini to marshall the midfield area. His presence lifted his team-mates, and put the creative influences Spain were reliant on to create openings under constant pressure. In effect, his introduction stopped the Spaniards in their tracks, and they wouldn’t test Lloris again until the dying seconds of injury time: throwing everyone forward, a floated cross to the six yard box was headed clear by the indomitable Sakho, and mopped up in typical fashion by Flamini; looking up, he released Benzema on the counter attack, and the pacy striker linked up with Ménez to create a clear goalscoring opportunity; with the goalmouth gaping, only a last gasp diving intervention from Sergio Ramos prevented France clinching the match.
Proving his worth again, Mathieu Flamini guided ‘Les Bleus’ to the finish
As Gaël Clichy stood over the corner, the referee put the whistle to his lips and blew for the final time. Delerious celebrations from the bench spilled out onto the pitch, and ‘Les Bleus’ had made a statement to the rest of the tournament – Zvunka’s men had shown that they can beat anyone on their day, and were quickly installed as the bookmaker’s clear favourites to go all the way. Now, the squad are preparing to face Germany in the next round, and are taking nothing for granted – the Germans, after all, overcame a partisan home crowd to knock out Wales in a nerve-shredding penalty shootout. It will probably offer a different type of spectacle for the neutrals to enjoy, but for fans of ‘Les Bleus’ the result is all that matters!
In the other quarter finals, Croatia rose superbly to defeat Italy by three goals, while the dream of Zvunka facing Scotland is over for the romantics as the co-hosts lost to Turkey. It is a very strong line-up, and will no doubt hold the attention of the continent for the next few days. There are some whispers of Alex McLeish being under pressure as Scotland gaffer, but whether these are true or not remains to be seen.
