Deprived of many players, the France U20 team was eliminated from the group stage of the World Cup, despite a victory against Honduras (3-1) on Sunday evening.
It’s anything but a surprise, but it’s not this year that French football will win a new U20 world title, which would have been the first since 2013, and the coronation of the Paul Pogba generation. At the time, there was also Alphonse Areola, Kurt Zouma, Lucas Digne, Geoffrey Kondogbia, Jordan Veretout and Florian Thauvin in the eleven tricolor.
This year, coach Landry Chauvin was far from being able to count on a squad of such a level. Since this competition is not organized on Fifa dates, many clubs have chosen to retain their players, and this is why the Bleuets had to do without around twenty elements, including Rayan Cherki, Elye Wahi, Mathys Tel, Malo Gusto and Warren Zaire-Emery.
The situation is somewhat reminiscent of the Tokyo Olympics two years ago, when Sylvain Ripoll recorded a cascade of withdrawals for similar reasons. And the result was the same, with an inglorious elimination in the first round.
Has a qualifying goal…
Defeated by South Korea and Gambia by the same score (2-1), Les Bleuets still had a chance to qualify, provided they beat Honduras by three goals to clinch a place among the best third . France eventually won 3-1, failing one goal from the ticket to the finals.
Note, however, the good reaction of the players of Landy Chauvin, who were reduced to 10 after the exclusion of the Angevin Ousmane Camara (13th) and led to the score following the goal of Odin Pena (15th). But the Bleuets therefore reacted, with a double from Lille Alan Virginius (41st, 60th) and a final goal from Félix Nzouango (77th), the defender of Juventus.
Les Bleuets could have kept up appearances, but this failure hurts. Because, despite the absences and extenuating circumstances, France is generally expected to come out of a group with Gambia and Honduras in particular… It is the first time since 1977 that the French team has been eliminated in the 1st round of the U20 World Cup.