Fiola overtook Pavard on the first Hungarian goal. – Tibor Illyes / AP / SIPA
From our special correspondent in Budapest,
Whether you are an amateur, Sunday sportsman or world champion, in short, whatever the level, defeat always carries with it its small share of bad faith. The French team demonstrated this after their draw in Hungary, which they blamed sometimes on the lack of realism, sometimes on all the parameters external to the sportivo-sportif and everything that may be relevant. in tactical place.
The first and most obvious parameter is heat. We’re not going to lie to each other, it was indeed damn hot at Puskas Arena. Seated in a grandstand press with nothing or almost nothing, we lost about 300 liters of water. So we can imagine that the 35 degrees disturbed our Blues. Didier Deschamps confesses to having noticed warning signals the day before during training.
Hot like against Australia in 2018
“Yesterday they said ” coach we hardly make an effort that we seek our breath. Today, the temperature was felt at 35 degrees, the players asked to drink every 5 minutes.” The two refreshment breaks in the middle of each period were not enough to give enough gas to the French troops, making the match hardly bearable on a physical level. “Far from me the desire to find excuses”, nevertheless specifies our national DD. Understand the degree of galley that this match represented in Budapest, Corentin Tolisso pays into the effective comparison.Back in 2018.
“It was very hot, this match reminds me of Australia, during the World Cup, where we played very early on on very dry ground. It was very hot, too. And it’s harder to play at 3 p.m. on very dry ground than at night. “
And so we move on to excuse number two: the hour. Again, it is in order. The Blues have modeled their preparation matches and training sessions on the end of the day / evening, and the body needs to adapt to a certain pace. IS. But we always come to the same problem. Both settings apply to both teams. This is why there comes a last, the most rational, the most admissible, the least borrowing in bad faith: Hungary played at home in a full stadium.
Boiling like the Puskas Arena
“They had strength with the support of their formidable public, they all started to defend so we had less spaces and intervals”, regretted Didier Deschamps. You have to have lived, seen and heard it to believe it. If the Hungarian players easily stayed a quarter of an hour in front of their ultras turn, it is surely that they are aware of their duty a lot. “It was a very strong experience,” confessed man of the match Laszlo Kleinheisler. Hats off to the guys, to the fans without whom we couldn’t have done it. “
Each tackle, each duel won, each dangerous situation was rewarded with rumblings, applause and cries all more piercing than the others. Small nocturnal confession, we almost wanted to change sides like the Soviet public at the end of the Drago-Balboa fight in Rocky IV. We left our eardrums there, but we liked it. And Coco Tolisso too, deep inside him. “It’s nice to find so many supporters. We were a little surprised at the beginning, it made a lot of noise, it’s been a year and a half that we have no one in the stadium. »Chase away the excuses, they come back at a gallop.