A page has definitely turned for the France team. Acclaimed on the sidelines of the match against the Netherlands, Blaise Matuidi, Raphaël Varane, Steve Mandanda and Hugo Lloris, now retired internationals, will no longer wear the tricolor jersey. Departures logically causing arrivals and in particular at the position of goalkeeper. Called up alongside Alphonse Areola (West Ham) and Brice Samba (RC Lens), Mike Maignan was thus inducted as the new number 1 goalkeeper for the Blues by his coach, Didier Deschamps.
A calm evening before the feat!
Aligned at the base of the 4-3-3 drawn by the French technician, the last bastion of AC Milan was necessarily expected at the turn for this shock against the Dutch, which ultimately did not take place. Announced successor to Hugo Lloris in the tricolor cages, the former doorman of Lille has, in fact, lived a generally peaceful evening. Well protected by a very efficient central hinge – Dayot Upamecano and Ibrahima Konaté received a score of 7 by our editorial staff – the native of Cayenne never failed against the timid offensives of the Oranjes. Reassuring about his few interventions, the 27-year-old Frenchman nevertheless completed this grandiose evening in apotheosis.
Author of a double parade on the penalty attempted by Memphis Depay in additional time of this meeting, Maignan thus kept his clean sheet and also allowed the Blues to take the lead in group B thanks to a better goal difference than the Greece, second after their victory in Gibraltar (3-0). Acclaimed by the Stade de France at the end of the match and celebrated by his teammates at the final whistle, the interested party did not hide his relief and his pride at the final whistle. “It’s true that it was a match that we wanted to win after losing a final that hurt. We wanted to say that we were still there and if we can win all our matches like the one tonight, it is very important for us.he first said on the L’Equipe channel before adding.
Post-Lloris definitely assured?
“It was for me, we exchanged a lot, when you play with high level players, you just have to communicate. The penalty? It’s a psychological duel, the team deserved to come out with a clean sheet. The team worked hard tonight. I didn’t hit many balls. The goal is not to play like in a club, you must not take any risks, the passes were without risk and the players were unmarked.. Serious and reassuring for the future of the Blues in this position, Mike Maignan was also able to count on the support of the new tricolor captain, Kylian Mbappé.
“It’s great, we didn’t want to concede goals so that everyone would be happy”underlined in particular the 2018 world champion, preferring to emphasize the defensive aspect dear to Mike Maignan. “It was important for Mike (Maignan) not to take a goal, for his first as n°1 in goals, to start with a clean sheet. We are super happy, we hope it will give him a lot of confidence.. It now remains to confirm this encouraging performance, in Dublin, during the second day against Ireland. The hardest part is yet to come…
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Netherlands: Mike Maignan is already making an impression! 24hfootnews.
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