In the end, FC Bayern decided the penalty shootout for France. The Munich full -back Josip Stanišić came to the point as a seventh Croatian, his massive but half -high shot immersed France’s goalkeeper Mike Maignan from the corner. And then Dayot Upamecano came, who carelessly drogs the ball on the left-5: 4, the French drive to the final four tournament of the Nations League in Germany in June and meet Spain there in the semi-finals.
That was by no means foreseeable after the first leg last Thursday in Split: after a desolate first half and one stormy, but weed -to -do -celed second, the French had pulled the loser with 0: 2 and thus took a mighty mortgage for Sunday to the Stade de France. Before the game, there were considerable doubts about that Les Bleus The turning point would still create, too much spoke against it: for example, the negative run by captain Kylian Mbappé, who had canceled the autumn dates with the national team for personal reasons and had remained without a goal in Split in the sixth international match. Or the situation around national coach Didier Deschamps, who announced at the beginning of the year, to give up his post after the 2026 World Cup.
With the first leg defeat you could get the impression that Deschamps was a classic one Lame DuckSo someone who still makes formal decisions, but no longer penetrates with his announcements, because everyone knows that he won’t be in charge for long. After the game on Sunday, you can confidently reject the thought. The French went to work full of Esprit, they wanted to turn this duel, which gave them away from the start. And even if they were still without hits after three halves against the Croatians, they kept pressure and pace up and came to those two goals after the break that equalized the preliminary result.
Deschamps was correspondingly relieved after the goalless extension and the stirring penalty shootout, in which his team was mostly at the forefront, briefly out of mistake by Jules Koundé and Théo Hernández and in the end won: “We turned the skewer and played a game on a very, very high level this evening,” said the coach. Although you can see the performance of the guests more critically: they actually had no chance. Or, as national coach Zlatko Dalić put it: “We didn’t want to defend – they forced us to do so.”
The French were so dominant that even the eternally young Luka Modrić, 39, temporarily looked as old as he really is. Croatia’s captain is now the oldest real Madrid player in history, in October he replaced the Hungarian legend Ferenc Puskás. In St. Denis, wrong passes in the game structure and slight ball losses made him to an unknown extent.
The song on this second golden Croatian generation has been tuned several times
The other veterans such as Mateo Kovačić, who is no longer used regularly at Manchester City, or Ivan Perišić, still in the first leg on Thursday with goal and assist best man on the square, sometimes faced the attack vertebra of the French. And so the future of the 2018 World Cup second and World Cup thirds of 2022 are once again in the stars. The song has been tuned to this second golden football generation of the 3.8 million population after all the Prosinečkis, Šukers, Bobans and Soldo’s at the end of the nineties, most recently after the European Championship in front of the European Championship last summer. Association President Marijan Kustić fights to keep football in his country. The 50 -year -old former Member of Parliament has achieved significant improvements to the infrastructure since his election in 2021 and, for example, launched the construction of a new national training center near Zagreb.
But is Modrić and his colleagues a big tournament again in 2026? The speed disadvantages on Sunday in the Stade de France seemed blatant. Especially Mbappé, but also Ousmane Dembélé and the unleashed Bayern wing striker Michael Olise ran the Vatrenithe fiery, as Croatia is called national players, of it again and again. And while Mbappé von Deschamps, despite his now seventh international game in a series without a goal, a special praise (“Kylian has been a great leader since the beginning of the week, with very precise statements on and off the square, a lot of enthusiasm and determination”), in reality, Olise was particularly the decisive factor. He not only used a direct free kick from the penalty area to his first international goal in the sixth game (52nd), but also prepared the 2-0 by Dembélé with a clever pass from the goal line to the back area (80th).
What was also encouraged by the trainer for which: Olise made great progress in his club, said Deschamps. “I’m happy for him. This indicates more good appearances because he will be confident.”
The spectators in the Stade de France liked it, and they also had their share in it by tirelessly whipping their Équipe. It had recently looked as if rugby in France was going to rank football with regard to popularity. Deschamps reacted calmly to a corresponding question a few days ago: “Which national team plays regularly in front of 80,000 fans?” With appearances like that on Sunday, it won’t change anytime soon.
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