World-2022: the Blues hooked by Bosnia and Herzegovina for their recovery

Published on : 09/01/2021 – 22:54

After the failure of the Euro, the Blues were expected for their football comeback against Bosnia-Herzegovina, Wednesday, September 1, at the Meinau stadium in Strasbourg. The France team finally conceded the draw (1-1) against the hooking Bosnians.

In a sold-out Meinau stadium, with 21,750 spectators, the world champions struggled to be dangerous against the block of five defenders of Bosnia, already difficult to maneuver at the end of March in Sarajevo (1-0).

Without much offensive idea, they relied on the long balls of Paul Pogba (4th, 8th, 14th, 20th, 68th), mainly for Karim Benzema and Kylian Mbappé, author also of a post coming out in a very closed angle (27th) and two actions where he unsuccessfully claimed a penalty (21st, 59th).

Above all, they again displayed a worrying feverishness in defense, their weak point at the Euro with six goals conceded in four matches, half of which during the round of 16 lost on penalties against Switzerland (3-3, 4 -5 tab).

The Blues were led after a goal from Edin Dzeko (36th, 0-1) scored following a loss of ball from Lemar. They got back together shortly after thanks to a goal from Antoine Griezmann – validated after viewing the VAR (40th, 1-1). The two teams joined the locker room at half-time with a draw that did not budge in the second half, where France was quickly reduced to ten after the exclusion of Koundé (51st) on an uncontrolled tackle.

The France team remains however first in group D, with 8 points. She travels on Saturday on the ground of her runner-up, Ukraine, before welcoming Finland to Lyon on Tuesday.

With AFP