The French national team appeared in Borisov not the same team that almost two months ago played in the final of Euro 2016. The quality of the game - just heaven and earth. And this is despite the fact that, in fact, the wards of Didier Deschamps did not shine at the home continental championship. A bright match against the Icelanders and a high-quality, but difficult game with the Republic of Ireland. Yes, that's all, in fact.

Yes, as expected, the “tricolors” in the reporting duel seized the territorial advantage, but there was little sense from this. In the first twenty minutes, only two shots were taken against Gorbunov's goal. First, Martial frankly smeared, and then Pogba poked the projectile exactly at the goalkeeper of the Belarusian squad. But in the 22nd minute, the hosts missed a sure opportunity to score. After a filigree shot by Timofey Kalachev, his partner at the point of attack failed to close the sphere, although there was only an empty target ahead. True, in this episode, an offside position was recorded. But the fact remained that by the end of the first half, the only truly dangerous moment was created by Alexander Khatskevich's wards.

The second part of the forty-five minutes remained entirely for the French team. It's hard to even remember the episodes when the Belarusians would linger for a long time with the ball in someone else's half of the field. Another thing is that the “tricolors” themselves did not create anything at all. Everything that went into the penalty area was either covered by the defenders, or flew so wide that Andrey Gorbunov came into play only when it was necessary to put the ball into play. The beginning of the second half did not suggest that something would change. The national team of Belarus tried to snarl, but then the vice-champions of Europe took the ball under their control. And minutes from the fiftieth began to disturb the goalkeeper of the home team.

In the 53rd minute, Griezmann and Giroud famously beat the wall, after which the Atlético forward made a discount on his colleague from Arsenal, and he managed to miss from an advantageous position. In less than five minutes, Griezmann performed the “terrible cannon” from the standard. Gorbunov, like van der Sar 8 years ago, tamed this core. The next moment after the serve, Payet already hit the crossbar, but there was such a situation that the goalkeeper would most likely have reflected this ball if it had flown a little lower. Exactly in position, the sphere flew into the gate, leaving the keeper with excellent chances for one more salvation.

If in the first half the task of “surviving” could be solved calmly and without nerves, then in the second half of the match everything went upside down for the Belarus national team. The chances were great enough, but with each approach of the French to the gate, they melted. By the 70th minute, the mentors decided to refresh the game of their teams. Instead of Stasevich, Krivets came out, and instead of Sissokko - Dembele. The advantage of the guests grew: there was a header by Kurzava, which Gorbunov managed again, there were episodes when the ball rushed around the penalty area, and one accurate hit was missing. A great opportunity was missed by Paul Pogba, who hit the defender in front of him from close range.

The ball control of Didier Deschamps' men was at the highest level, but what's the use of all this when the players of the attacking line loaded Gorbunov not often enough to score a single goal? Until the end of the match, only castling took place. Kornilenko replaced Signevich, Gordeychuk - Volodko, Gameiro - Giroud. The Belarusians had no chance to organize an assist attack, the French had them, but they failed to dispose of them.

Thus, the wards of Alexander Khatskevich get a very good result. A home draw with the vice-champion of Europe is worth a lot. Didier Deschamps, on the other hand, needs to sort out the mistakes right now, because with such a game you can make problems for yourself in games with direct competitors for getting into the world championship.

The national teams of Belarus and France failed to score at the start of the qualifying tournament for the 2018 World Cup.

Borisov-Arena, which gathered 13 thousand spectators in the stands, was left on a starvation ration. The Belarusian team, which is now referred to only as the "White Wings", defended more and set a goal not to miss from the vice-champions of Europe, who brought the best football personnel of the country. Of the 23 shots of the “tricolors”, 10 hit the target, but this was not enough to break through Gorbunov, who was confidently doing his job. One more time the crossbar played for the Belarusians.

The support of the fans, dressed in branded jerseys with the new logo of the national team, helped the hosts to withstand the onslaught of serious rivals with the most expensive football player in the world at the head. The Belarusians could hardly count on anything more - Khatskevich's guys did not deliver a single shot on target.

In the actions of the guests, especially in the first half, caught a slight misalignment and the desire to win without any extra effort. Including this, and also wild dedication and a bit of luck helped the White Wings to score a point in the match against reputable opponents.

Ahead of the Belarusians October meetings with the Dutch and Luxembourgers, the French - matches with the Bulgarians and the Dutch.

2016-09-06 10:08:06

Football

The training session of the French national team was more lively than any other match of the Belarusian First League.

DECHAMPS PRESS CONFERENCE

French journalists are of little interest to the rivals of their national team - not a single person from a foreign camp came to the press conference of Alexander Khatskevich. There were only about a dozen of them. But for a conversation with Didier Deschamps and Raphael Varane, more than twenty foreign journalists crowded into the conference hall of the BFF (and this is without taking into account the remaining Belarusians). And it was to communicate, and not to listen - almost everyone had their own question. Such excitement somewhat confused the pretty girl-translator - her French, apparently, is all right, but worse with football terminology. Deschamps helped her as best he could, answering her questions in the most trite and politically correct way: "Studied the match with n the Norwegians. Now we have an idea about each player of the Belarus national team. I understand that surprises do happen though.. Or like this: “You can’t say that Belarusians are like Italians. They play different football. Nevertheless, we will try to take the ball and the initiative in this game.”. Raphael Varane agreed: "In the match with the Belarusians, we will put more pressure than in the duel with the Italians. We are ready for the opponent to perform well in defense".

BELARUSIANS
The Belarusian national team finished the training just before the French were supposed to take the field. By this time, the people in the district were - darkness. Each of the people previously passed the inspection - but quickly and painlessly. However, the fans looked indifferently at Martynovich and his team leaving the lawn, they came here with a different purpose. Everyone who wished completed the Belarusian program on September 3 during a large-scale open training session of our team.

PEOPLE ON THE FENCE

The training of the French gathered approximately the same audience in terms of size, which collects an ordinary match of the first league. It was exactly the same last year for the Spaniards, and the event went on in a similar way. Fifteen open minutes, during which the fans climbed onto the fence to get a few centimeters closer to Griezmann, and tried to attract the attention of the team. Then the riot police carefully tore off the fans clinging to the metal mesh, and they, like the journalists, left the stadium. Autograph hunters must have been disappointed. By the way, during the lesson, the local fan club of the French team actively started chants - many of these guys could be met in the summer in the Minsk fan zone during the matches of the 2016 European Championship.

POGBA, GRIEZMANN AND MANDANDA

The fact that the main interest for the fans was represented by the hero of the recent EURO Griezmann and the most expensive player in the world Pogba is understandable. But the third on the pedestal of adoration was unexpectedly the goalkeeper of “Crystal Palace” Steve Mandanda, although the bookmakers assigned this place to Olivier Giroud. The name of the goalkeeper was loudly shouted out, they actively waved their hands, and on the way to the clearing, he gave the chanting fans a smile that reached the addressees, barely making his way through the living corridor of riot police. Paul Pogba, in turn, pleased the audience with a couple of tricks in the warm-up.

VASILY KHOMUTOVSKY

One of the spectators at the training of the French was the newly minted goalkeeping coach "Krumkachou" Vasily Khomutovsky. Maybe it was he who was one of those who chanted "Mandanda"? ..