To see a French team that scores and seduces, you have to turn to the Espoirs. Thierry Henry’s U23s continued their ideal preparation by winning very largely against the Dominican Republic (7-0), Thursday evening at the Mayol stadium in Toulon. Faced with very weak opposition, Thierry Henry’s players had fun offensively, finding good combinations to sign a promising festival, 13 days before the start of the Olympic adventure against the United States.
“The content is important and seeing the guys in shape is good, we have no injuries,” the coach rejoiced on La Chaîne L’Equipe. I like the competitive spirit of this team.” New Bavarian Michael Olise, lined up as number 10, particularly shone, scoring twice in the second half. He will long remember his second goal (56th, 5-0), a sumptuous left-footed shot from 25 m to punish poor positioning by the goalkeeper and an approximate clearance by a defender. A classy individual action, but not really representative of a match where the Bleuets mainly shone with their passing circuits.
“We have to calm down, it won’t always be like this”
On two crosses from the left, Enzo Millot (19th, 1-0) and Alexandre Lacazette (28th, 2-0) allowed the French to take the lead. Like Olise, opportunistic on an offering from Arnaud Kalimuendo (51st, 4-0), the captain offered himself a double (49th, 3-0) with a beautiful left-footed shot on the pivot. In a disjointed second period, the entrants Maghnes Akliouche (80th, 6-0) and Rayan Cherki (90th, 7-0) closed the scoring on a new collective action. “This gives good ideas for the weeks to come,” smiled the “General” Lacazette.
“We need to calm down, it won’t always be like this,” Thierry Henry nevertheless warned. Satisfied with his team’s animation, the coach is aware of the significant gap in level between the two nations, even if the Dominican Republic is, like Paraguay (beaten 4-1 by the Bleuets last Thursday), qualified for the Games. Its defense, on alternating current during the first friendly match and almost never tested this Thursday, still cracked on a goal disallowed by the VAR – appropriate in Toulon – just before the break.
