Returning to the Blue in the absence of Karim Benzema, after being snubbed in four of the last five rallies, Olivier Giroud took full advantage of the opportunity that Didier Deschamps offered him this Thursday afternoon against Austria (2-0): a goal , an assist and a role played to perfection up front. The World Cup is in two months, but will it be enough to convince the coach?
By Jérémie Baron, at the Stade de France
Modified
Few things in Europe have to be worth the love of San Siro, it must be recognized. But Olivier Giroud must have been absent, for a year and three months, to feel this boiling Stade de France, chanting his surname in unison. The last time was in June 2021, when Chambéry’s great scion scored two goals against Bulgaria, a few days before a European Championship where he will only scratch 40 minutes of play in four games. Since then, the Frenchman has discovered Serie A, raged there from the top of its 35 benches, and raised the scudetto. In the French team, however, his status continued to slide towards the box of those with whom Didier Deschamps does not quite know what to do.
Two goals from Thierry Henry
Because between June 2021 and this summer, the rossonero he has all but disappeared from international circulation, having set foot in Clairefontaine only once out of the Blues’ five meetings. Her only window of opportunity from him? Two friendlies against the Ivory Coast and South Africa, where entertained the public at the Vélodrome and Pierre-Mauroy, with a pawn at a time. However, La Déche still preferred Wissam Ben Yedder three months later, and I had left him brooding in Lombardy. Last Thursday, the coach confirmed that he only appealed to the Milan control tower when a certain Karim Benzema -with whom coexistence seems complicated- was indisposedbut who cares: as usual, the center forward has crushed luck with full teeth, with what he knows how to do.
For seventy-eight minutes, the 2012 French champion recalled what his strength did under the national robe, against David Alaba’s teammates : that leading role with his back to the goal that no one else seems capable of assuming in the French pool, his discounts that grease the game, his activity in the air and his presence in the area, the fear that he inspires in the eyes of his bodyguards, his complementarity with Antoine Griezmann (another blue disappointment, who was already serving in the last goal of the G with the Tricolor and also left at the same time as him) or his omnipresence in the passing circuits once we began to find him. And that snuck in on its own: by retrieving a gift from the Austrian shortly before the hour mark, he was able to launch Kylian Mbappé, leaving Bondynois to score their solo goal; Ten minutes later, he felt Grizou’s cake coming and soiled Philipp Lienhart’s 89 meter to place a great helmet shot on Patrick Pentz’s strings: 2-0, Giroud signed.
35a and 357j – Thanks to his goal against Austria, Olivier Giroud becomes this Thursday night, at 35 years and 357 days, the oldest scorer in the history of the French national team, surpassing Roger Marche (35 years ) and 287 days in December 1959 against Spain). Briscard. #FRAAUT pic.twitter.com/0u5ORYB3I8
— OptaJean (@OptaJean) September 22, 2022
“He does everything to make sure he goes to the World Cup” didier deschamps
“I have always considered that a player who has a status should maintain the same status in the France team.coldly explained DD about the former Tourangeau, on Sunday in Téléfoot. Humanly, it’s very difficult when you don’t keep it. » A way of not giving too much false hope to their striker, who still piling up the candy at each appearance with EDF, still has a good chance of not seeing Qatar. Meanwhile, the interested party continues with his work: the oldest smuggler but above all the oldest scorer in the history of this team (at 35 years and 357 days), now points to two achievements (49 in 113 games since 2011) since His Majesty Thierry Henry. After his player’s recital, Deschamps appeared “Happy for Olivier, he deserves it. He had more complicated times, at the club, where he had little or nothing. If I call him and put him on it is for him to be good and score goals. He participated in many offensive actions, many combinations. […] May it continue to perform well. Don’t interpret. Did I tell you she wouldn’t be there or would she be (in the world) ? Neither, but he goes out of his way to make sure he goes. There is a lot, a lot of competition at all positions. I can have a little more margin but it’s not to bring 26 to bring 26. Good for what he has done. » The only boycott in Qatar that French football will authorize is therefore perhaps that of Olivier Giroud.
By Jérémie Baron, at the Stade de France
Comments collected by MB, at the Stade de France