France go crashing out of Euro 2020 – where did it all go wrong for Les Bleus?

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France were left stunned on Monday night as they were knocked out at the round of 16 stage by Switzerland after a thrilling tie was decided by penalties.

This will be a tournament to forget for the world champions, Didier Deschamps’ side never really clicked during this tournament and were unconvincing from the beginning. Kylian Mbappe had a tournament to forget as he failed to find the back of the net at all, even missing his penalty in the shootout against Switzerland which would knock France out.

But where did it all really go wrong? Yes, they did have injuries throughout the group stages to the likes of Lucas Hernandez, Benjamin Pavard, and Ousmane Dembele but the strength in depth should have been more than enough to get them further in the competition.

Was it the mindset? Coming into the tournament as World Cup winners, maybe they just let off the gas slightly and assumed they would be able to coast their way through the tournament, especially after adding Karim Benzema to an already strong group of players.

There are numerous factors that could point to why it was a poor tournament from Les Bleus. One player who can come away from the tournament with some credit is Paul Pogba, the Manchester United midfielder put in a man-of-the-match performance on matchday one against Germany, and his range of passing, along with his vision was constantly unlocking the door for France, creating numerous chances throughout the group stage.

You could see France’s struggles begin to form when they struggled to break down the so-called whipping boys of the group, Hungary, a game where they only scored because of Antoine Griezmann being alert to a loose ball and even then they could only manage a draw. In the final game, they looked better against Portugal but still looked vulnerable defensively despite Pogba showing up again with another creative masterclass as they yet again could only draw but this would confirm top spot.

Even in their knockout game against the Swiss, Pogba was constantly finding ways to get France on the front foot and his goal was what the French would say, magnifique. It left his foot like a cannon and it left Yann Sommer with absolutely no chance, this goal put France 3-1 up in the second half but Switzerland showed what maybe France lacked, some passion and fight for one another.

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Haris Seferovic and Mario Gavronovic scored a goal each in the last ten minutes of the game to force extra time and it seemed to surprise France, after being so used to putting teams away and coasting to wins, they got hit with a sucker punch and couldn’t find any sort of answer after taking off Griezmann and Benzema.

In extra time, the game really just fizzled out, Switzerland were just pleased to be in the position they found themselves in and France had no idea how to unlock their defence despite breaching them already on three occasions.

Penalties came around and it was a masterclass, to begin with, Pogba’s penalty would have still gone in even with three goalkeepers trying to save it, Presnel Kimpembe, Olivier Giroud, and Marcus Thuram all also managed to score from the spot.

One thing that is a personal pet peeve is players waiting to take what is usually all-important penalty number five, this is what Mbappe did and as he was stepping up, it was evident what was about to happen. The 22-year-old had not scored all tournament, he had six shots in this game alone and couldn’t even find the target so it came as no surprise that his penalty was saved by Sommer to send France out.

There is no doubt that he will recover from this as all good players usually do but it was certainly a tournament to forget for the PSG man and missing the crucial penalty was just the icing on the cake to call Euro 2020 a write-off for all involved.

Now it’s time for Deschamps’ men to recover and regroup ahead of the World Cup in Qatar next year, a tournament where they will be looking to bounce back and prove to the world that this European Championship was just a one-off bad display.

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