Missed Opportunities and Regrets: France Falls Short in U17 World Cup Final Versus Germany

Cruel but not illogical. Coming from afar in the second half while trailing 2-0, the France team lost on penalties against Germany in the final of the U17 World Cup (2-2; 4-3 after tab) this Saturday in Indonesia. Absent from the debates for 45 minutes, the Blues once again saw the Germans being crowned before their eyes, six months after the defeat in the Euro final.

It is a generation that will be marked. After an almost perfect run with only one goal conceded throughout the competition, the French U17 team showed a very bad face in the World Cup final against realistic and patient Germans. As it was six months ago to the day, it was ultimately the penalties which decided the fate of the two teams with this time a 4-3 success for the Germans in this exercise.

Argney may harbor regrets

As the session was about to begin, it was difficult to think about anything other than this Euro final. This is why Sylla, still on the pitch, did not choose to try his luck this time, he who had missed the winning penalty in June.

But as in Budapest, it was the Blues who took the advantage thanks to a very solid Paul Argney against Da Silva Moreira. Despite two good shots from Kayi Sanda and Bouneb, the young French saw the situation turn around after misses from Sangui, author of a very good comeback, and Meupiyou.

Two shots later, Argney once again showed all his talent against Brunner, Germany’s top scorer, who could only note the very good relaxation of the Le Havre goalkeeper. Unfortunately for him, Gomis’ miss, then Kabar’s good shot, gave the Germans their first U17 world championship title.

45 minutes played

Although largely dominant in possession with 45%, and only 31% for Germany (24% contested), the French only created too few chances. Bouabre’s goal to reduce the score in the 53rd minute marked the first real dangerous situation for Jean-Luc Vannuchi’s men.

In the meantime, the coach noticed the faults of his team at the restart. There were multiple losses of balls despite a German team waiting to press, but explosive on the counterattack. The penalty conceded by Sadi was a first punishment (29th, 1-0), before the second came from a counterattack from Darvich (51st, 2-0).

Luckily for France, their opponents fell into the trap of aggression after Bouabre’s goal, like a logical red from Osawe. Amougou was able to take advantage of the spaces to equalize (85th), but never the ASSE player nor another Blue managed to score the winning goal despite the spaces. Two finals, two defeats, a year to forget for the young selection.

2023-12-02 15:28:00
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