{"id":1813,"date":"2025-11-17T17:39:34","date_gmt":"2025-11-17T09:39:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/?p=1813"},"modified":"2025-11-17T17:39:34","modified_gmt":"2025-11-17T09:39:34","slug":"tepid-mission-accomplished-in-azerbaijan-for-frances-youngsters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/2025\/11\/17\/tepid-mission-accomplished-in-azerbaijan-for-frances-youngsters\/","title":{"rendered":"Tepid mission accomplished in Azerbaijan for France’s youngsters"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

France’s reserve team logically prevailed in Azerbaijan (3-1) after a poor start, but few players staked a claim on Sunday in Baku to conclude the 2026 World Cup qualifiers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Places are at a premium to complete the squad list in May. Some young internationals seized their opportunity, with a starting eleven entirely refreshed after the victory against Ukraine<\/strong> (4-0) that secured their place at the World Cup.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maghnes Akliouche<\/a> (30th minute) opened his account for the national team, and Malo Gusto<\/strong> provided two assists, one for the Monaco<\/strong> player and another for Jean-Philippe Mateta<\/strong> (17th minute).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Crystal Palace<\/strong> forward is a long way from the World Cup in the United States, Mexico, and Canada<\/strong> (June 11-July 19). He took advantage of numerous absences to experience the national team (Ousmane Dembele, Desire Doue, Marcus Thuram…<\/strong>), but he scored his second goal in three appearances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His goal, a powerful diving header from a Gusto<\/strong> cross, perfectly illustrates his profile as a centre-forward, which led Didier Deschamps<\/strong> to call him up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Captain Kylian Mbappe<\/strong>, who returned to Madrid to rest his right ankle after securing qualification for France<\/a> with a brace against Ukraine<\/strong> on Thursday (4-0), meant that “for the attacking players, this will be a match to score points and rack up stats,” warned stand-in captain Ibrahima Konate<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Khephren Thuram thought he’d scored<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

In this inconsequential match, Akliouche<\/strong> tried to brighten up the play before being replaced by Rayan Cherki<\/strong> (62nd minute), who disappointed against Ukraine<\/strong> in a central playmaker role. Hugo Ekitike<\/strong>, after a “thunderous” entrance according to the coach against Ukraine<\/strong>, where he scored his first goal, was less prominent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally, Christopher Nkunku<\/strong> produced a match that was too neutral, with an off-target header (27th minute), against a clearly inferior opponent, but one that never gave up in their Tofiq Bahramov Stadium<\/strong>, where the enthusiastic crowd even did the “wave” at 3-1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another hopeful for the great American journey this summer, but in midfield, Khephren Thuram<\/strong> really thought he had scored his first goal for France<\/strong> too, but video arbitration denied him this pleasure once (41st minute), then he was frustrated a second time when the goal for 3-1 from one of his shots was ultimately attributed to goalkeeper Shakhrudin Magomedaliyev<\/strong> (45th minute).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But his partnership with Warren Zaire-Emery<\/strong> generally controlled the Azerbaijanis<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the other hand, Lucas Chevalier<\/strong> was unable to make a mark on his first appearance, as he is encountering some difficulties in fully convincing at Paris Saint-Germain<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He didn’t remain unbeaten for more than three minutes because France<\/strong> completely botched their start to the match, as if they were already on vacation, and conceded the first goal in Azerbaijan<\/strong>‘s history against France<\/strong> as early as the 4th minute.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Renat Dadashov<\/strong> scored too easily in the heart of a passive defence, after a run by Rahman Dashdamirov<\/strong> that Malo Gusto<\/strong> failed to contain. The Chelsea<\/strong> right-back redeemed himself by delivering a good cross for Mateta<\/strong>, who quickly equalised, and *the French<\/strong> team* recovered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But both Chevalier<\/strong> and Gusto<\/strong> have a secure place in the France<\/strong> hierarchy, as understudies to Mike Maignan<\/strong> and Jules Kounde<\/strong>. France’s next generation didn’t show much more in a subdued second half. It’s not certain that it will be enough to earn a place on the list.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

France’s reserve team logically prevailed in Azer […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1814,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1813","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1813","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1813"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1813\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1815,"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1813\/revisions\/1815"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1814"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1813"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1813"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1813"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}