“Football is a game played eleven against eleven, and in the end, Germany wins.» This legendary punchline from Gary Lineker, the French U17 team has seen it twice in the last six months. During the U17 Euro last June, the Bleuets had already lost on penalties to the Mannschaft. And while they had the opportunity to take their revenge this Saturday in the final of the U17 World Cup, Jean-Luc Vannuchi’s flock did not know how to put in the necessary ingredients to do better.
Largely dominated by the inspired Germans during the first period, Ismail Bouneb’s teammates appeared with better intentions after returning from the locker room. Only trailing by one goal after their indigestible first act, the latter nevertheless conceded a second goal at the start of the second half. Well helped by the expulsion of Winners Osawe in the 69th minute, the French were able to come back at the very end of the match on a formidable collective action concluded by Mathis Amougou. For Vannuchi, the Bleuets faltered in the first period and were not able to be killer enough in the second period because they should have won before the end of regulation time according to him: “We only played half-time out of two. I didn’t understand. We made the change at half-time and it was better. It’s the same scenario as at the Euro. We have opportunities, even if we are in numerical superiority, and we have opportunities to kill them and we don’t do it. This is gaming at the very highest level.» With the psychological ascendancy, the U17s of France then took the advantage during the penalty shootout before collapsing under the pressure…
“It’s a lottery story, no matter how much we work on them…»
Obviously very stressed, Nhoa Sangui and Bastien Leupiyou completely missed their attempt to make Konstantin Heide shine and allow Paris Brünner to have the coronation shot on goal at the end of his foot. And while the twirling Borussia Dortmund winger missed his attempt, Tidian Gomis, in turn, missed his attempt, the sixth for the Tricolores. After leading and missing three attempts, the Bleuets missed their chance. Destiny had chosen its side, that of Germany which therefore seized the trophy following the victorious banderilla of Almugera Kabar.
A cruel outcome which inevitably recalls the defeat on penalties in the final of the Euro U17. Jean-Luc Vannuchi, at the microphone of The Channel L’Equipealso recalled that he could not blame his youngsters for much in the penalty shootout: “At the back, we are still ahead in the penalties and we have a great goalkeeper in front and we take penalties badly. Badly shot or stopped, I need to see them again. I’m extremely disappointed for this group but if we don’t have it, that means we’re still missing something. I think we should have won before the penalty shootout. It’s a lottery story, no matter how much we work on them…We’re going to have to digest it and move on. We can be proud of the team’s journey” One thing is certain now: while they are only at the dawn of their careers, young French people will certainly have revenge to take on this German generation who made them cry twice in the space of a few months …
Pub. THE
Update