How sluggish it was… On Sunday, the France U21 team took a big step towards the quarter-finals of the Euro Espoirs in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, after their narrow 1-0 victory against Norway. Following their initial success against Italy (2-1), Les Bleuets scored a second victory in a row thanks to their evening striker Michael Olise, but it will still be necessary to achieve a draw or a victory in the last group game against Switzerland.
While Sylvain Ripoll’s players stumbled on the Norwegian defense from the start of the match, a superb acceleration from Amine Adli unblocked the situation. The left winger crossed hard at the near post where Arnaud Kalimuendo first got a hole, but the defense was fixed by this ball and Michael Olise found himself alone at the far post. The Crystal Palace player opened his left foot perfectly to push the ball into the back of the net (57th).
A final Norwegian opportunity
The first period was very poor in the game. If the Norwegians had absolutely no chance, the French could only shoot twice on goal for a single shot on target. A glaring lack of rhythm which put the Bleuets in difficulty against a team from Norway which did not however offer much in attack. Only the foul counter on the side of the Habs was relatively high with 9 whistled offenses for two yellow cards.
“It was a very complicated match with a very tightly-knit Norwegian team, we struggled to get chances but the main thing is victory, confided Maxence Caqueret after the match. We have a very strong squad, we spoke to each other in the locker room at half-time, we came back with better intentions and we were able to score that goal, which was very important. »
After their goal and the entry of Rayan Cherki in particular, the French really settled in the Norwegian camp and multiplied the scoring opportunities, without converting them. The Norwegians also had the opportunity to come back to the score in stoppage time thanks to a ball taken from a corner by their goalkeeper but a clearance from Lukeba on the line allowed the Bleuets to get away with it.
