France was held in check by Israel this Thursday, November 14 at the Stade de France, but qualified for the quarterfinals of the League of Nations (0-0).
2 mins
In a match played without major incident, in a heavy context at the very sparsely filled Stade de France, the Blues qualified for the quarter-finals of the Nations League.
Unable to score against a team they had dominated 4-1 in October, the Blues are guaranteed to finish at least in second place in their group, ahead of Belgium, beaten by Italy (1-0).
“ We had chances, but we didn’t play a good game. Qualification is assured, that’s the only positive point this evening. Against Italy for the next meeting we will have to put more intensity », Said the French Jules Koundé on TF1.
A failed match for the French attackers
After a more prolific month of October, with six goals against Israel (4-1) and Belgium (2-1), the Blues fell back into their ways. A hodgepodge of approximations, that’s all the meager crowd at the Stade de France saw. The French team’s attacking trio Michael Olise-Randal Kolo Muani-Bradley Barcola was unable to shake up a weak Israel team.
An image illustrates this failed match: the way in which the French offensive players redacted a gift from goalkeeper Daniel Peretz, a big restart error on which Kolo Muani and Barcola hesitated so much that they let the defense take the ball back (61st) . The trio did not score any points.
The match was marked by a brief incident in the stands, where stewards intervened to prevent Israeli supporters from mingling with French fans.
An exceptional security system had been put in place to supervise this League of Nations meeting, which took place in a tense climate after last week’s violence on the sidelines of a Maccabi Tel-Aviv match in Amsterdam.