A brutal return to earth for Thierry Henry’s Bleuets. After three victories, they were soundly beaten in Austria on Friday during the 5th day of Group H of qualifying for Euro 2025 (2-0). The French completely missed their game in all sectors of the game and logically collapsed in front of Paul-Friedrich Koller’s double from a corner (25th and 75th). They remain at the head of the group but neck and neck with the Slovenes and under threat from the Austrians after the first leg.
To compensate for the departure of Warren Zaire-Emery from the A, the Bleuets coach preferred to align Strasbourg’s Ismaël Doukouré at the heart of his 4-4-2 diamond, rather than Monegasque Maghnes Akliouche who was expected to start. His players started the match correctly but completely lost the thread when Johann Lepenant injured his left knee alone while trying to tackle and had to give way to Lucas Gourna-Douath (10th). The absence of the usual full-backs Malo Gusto and Quentin Merlin also weighed.
Remains nevertheless had success
The new captain Castello Lukeba and his team suddenly became apathetic and very feverish. After two alerts (21st and 22nd), the Austrians logically took the opportunity to open the scoring through Koller from a corner (1-0, 25th). The Bleuets, however, benefited from a good dose of success a few moments later when they saw the opposing center forward Christoph Lang place a cross shot on the right post of Guillaume Restes (30th) and the playmaker Yusuf Demir do the same following at point blank range!
Within a team clearly lacking in offensive animation, Rayan Cherki ended up highlighting himself, but Elye Wahi failed to frame his shot in the race (36th). Lukeba, for his part, remained shaky with a surprising loss of ball in front of his area (37th). If the French reacted to the restart, Cherki came up against the opposing goalkeeper Nikolas Polster (47th).
Getting back together for the Olympics
Following an error by Jeanuël Belocian, the Austrians immediately responded with an excellent axial counterattack which Nikolas Veratschnig, however, poorly negotiated by rushing (48th). Entering shortly after the hour mark (63rd), Mathys Tel, Georginio Rutter and Akliouche were unable to contribute anything to a decidedly absent team. The punishment would thus have been heavier for the visitors because Manuel Polster shot at the post in his turn (69th) before Koller’s break goal, free of any marking at the far post from a corner (2-0, 75th).
Incoming Bernhard Zimmermann also sent a 20-meter strike to the right post of Remains (90th + 5). Already seriously damaged in Ligue 1 this season, the Toulouse goalkeeper was again in Austria. However, he was unable to avoid a more than logical setback which certainly sanctioned a relaxation after a record 9-0 victory over Cyprus. Before the return phase of these qualifications which will begin in September 2024, we will have to get back on track in preparation for the Paris Olympics. And this from next Monday in a friendly against South Korea.