More to the left, higher, stronger – Newspaper Kommersant No. 225 (7426) dated 12/05/2022
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The exit of the reigning world champions to the quarterfinals of the Qatari world championship turned out to be very everyday. The Polish national team only episodically indicated resistance to the French and lost with a score of 1: 3, without having figured out how to cope with Kylian Mbappe, who added an assist to the double that turned him into the tournament’s top scorer.
The most unfortunate person among those who were on the field of the Al Thumama stadium was not difficult to calculate. Fate decreed that Matty Cash in the scheme of the Polish national team fell to close its right flank. From the point of view of the French, he was on the left – that is, the flank of Kylian Mbappé. And that evening he was determined to decide a lot on his own – with feints and, of course, with his murderous jerks: the tone completely allowed.
A modest hard worker, Cash has probably never been in the spotlight so many times in his career. And never before have so many words of sympathy been heard from famous football players who commented on the match for various TV channels.
He definitely deserved them. Cash didn’t even want to criticize too much, including after he missed Mbappe twice in a row, allowing him to cross. After all, who wouldn’t miss the French leader when he was so hot when he found himself in his firing position? And the shots, although they looked dangerous, were wasted. And Cash, after all, still had time, scolding for Mbappe, to support partners in front. And this already drew on a feat.
The Polish national team, however, went forward, as expected, infrequently. And her style was perfectly told by the map of the so-called average positions of the players at the equator of the first half. Robert Lewandowski had it in his own half of the field – in other words, he visited it much more often than someone else’s.
But at the same time, it was the Poles, who, half an hour after the start of the match, did not want to believe at all, almost opened the score. It all happened after another duel between Kylian Mbappe and Matty Cash, which was easily won by the Frenchman. Goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny averted the threat, and the Polish national team in response suddenly launched a very nice attack. Bartosz Bereszynski from the left gave a pass into the penalty area, which through the rebound reached Piotr Zeliński. The Pole fired from a dozen and a half meters, without any obstacles in front of him. Moreover, after the goalkeeper Hugo Lloris hit the ball, he again went to Zeliński. His new shot was blocked by Theo Hernandez. And that was not the end of the episode, because the Poles were lucky with rebounds. The next in line of finishers was Jakub Kaminsky. And his situation was one hundred percent. However, even now the French defender – Raphael Varane – covered the embrasure with his chest. And the French, having survived such an adventure, finally scored.
The most useless player in their roster was as easy to spot as the most miserable in the Polish squad. Center forward Olivier Giroud was the only participant in the match, which had less than ten touches of the ball before the break. And only one of them asked for highlights – after the transfer of Ousmane Dembele, Giroud had to, reaching for the ball in the fall, forward it to an empty goal. He reached, but missed. But in principle, as it might seem, the striker was not involved in the French game at all.
But before the break, Kylian Mbappe, who decided to demonstrate that subtlety is his weapon as terrible as speed, found Olivier Giroud in the penalty area with a cunningly calculated pass.
And Giroud dealt with Schensny, scoring the 52nd goal for the French national team and still ahead of her former record holder Thierry Henry.
People who were confident that the team that was losing in the score would act in the second half as the alignment dictates and try to put pressure on them, of course, were wrong. The Poland national team – at least its Qatari version – if something stands out, it is just that pragmatism that borders on cowardice. Risk is definitely not her element, and in this sense, nothing has changed compared to the group stage.
Pressed after the break, even tighter than before, the French, who, moreover, the luck of Olivier Giroud liberated just enough to paint the game with a generous portion of light colors without sacrificing reliability. Fintil Kylian Mbappé, Antoine Griezmann admired the simple but very smart solutions. And Giroud got so excited that once he sent the ball into the net with a kick through himself and then madly regretted that, as it turned out, the game was stopped even before his acrobatic number. And nothing could revive the Poles. And the viewer could have missed the exit from the bench of such a seemingly prominent player as Arkadiusz Milik, because the striker disappeared somewhere on the front line.
Everything went to the second French goal. And, of course, it took place after the Polish national team nevertheless reluctantly switched to the French half – only to miss the attack in response. Mbappe completed it, performing a standard shot from the penalty area in terms of accuracy and accuracy and flashing God knows what facet of his incredible talent, which is opening up and opening up, but still, it seems, has not been revealed to the bottom.
Although the master Kylian Mbappe saved the masterpiece for dessert, serving it with an exquisite, five-star dish. The shot that brought him, already the top scorer of the World Cup, the fifth goal in Qatar was similar to the one with the previous one, but even more twisted. He literally screwed into the far nine, and the jump of Wojciech Szczesny could not help here.
The penalty kick, from which Robert Lewandowski somehow soaked the score in stoppage time, looked somehow superfluous, or something, for such a match. Zero – this figure ideally depicted the quality of the Poles’ game in attack and the integration of the first sniper in world football into it.
In the quarter-finals, the French national team is waiting for a match against a much more daring opponent. It will be the winner of the match between the British and the Senegalese, which ended late in the evening Moscow time.
1/8 finals
Netherlands-USA 3:1
Depay, 10; Blind, 45+1; Dumfries 81 – Wright 76
December 3rd. Doha, Khalifa International Stadium. 44,846 spectators.
Match statistics
Netherlands USA
Shots on goal 11 17
shots on target 6 8
Corner 4 5
Offsides 0 3
fouls 10 5
Warnings 2 0
Percentage of possession 42 58
Argentina-Australia 2:1
Messi, 35; Alvarez 57 – Fernandez 77 (own goal)
December 3rd. Er Rayyan, Ahmed Bin Ali Stadium. 45,032 viewers.
Match statistics
Argentina Australia
Shots on goal 14 5
shots on target 5 1
Corners 1 3
Offsides 3 0
fouls 8 15
Warnings 0 2
Possession percentage 61 39
France-Poland 3:1
Giroud, 44; Mbappe, 74, 90+1 – Lewandowski, 90+9 (pen.)
December 4th. Doha, Al Thumama Stadium. 40,989 spectators.
Match statistics
France Poland
Shots on goal 17 11
shots on target 8 2
Corners 7 1
Offsides 2 1
fouls 10 8
Warnings 1 2
Percentage of possession 55 45
The England-Senegal match ended after the number was signed for publication.
05/12: Japan-Croatia, Brazil-South Korea
06.12: Morocco-Spain, Portugal-Switzerland
1/4 finals
09/12: Netherlands-Argentina
10/12: France—winners England v Senegal
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