The Blueettes stalled in the final moments against the United States

One last big rehearsal before the Paris Olympic Games. This Monday in Sochaux, the French U23 team faces the United States just a stone’s throw from the Olympics. It was a great opportunity for Thierry Henry to test his foals against the Americans in the Blueettes group this summer in the French capital. And after the narrow victory (3-2) against Ivory Coast this Friday, the former Arsenal legend decided to make a big turnover. Thus, having performed well during their debut against the Ivorians, Ryan Cherky and Wilson Odobert were in the eleven and part of the eight changes Henry made while Bradley Barcola, Lenny Yoro and Enzo Milot were unavailable. And faced with fierce opposition from across the Atlantic, the meeting started sluggishly from the French side. Consumed in commitment, Guillaume Restes’ teammates could have quickly conceded the opening score in this meeting without two saves from the Toulouse goalkeeper (7th, 8th).

Caught behind an American counter-attack, the Blues were able to rely on the technical qualities of Cherky and Aklioche to keep the ball from burning their feet too easily. It was from these two that the Blueettes’ first offensive against American folk came. In all good shots, the OL playmaker won the ball back on the left before serving to Kalimuendo who eventually got in front of Schulte (21st). And the action that followed Andy Deof’s post (24th), once again sparked from Cherky. Stirring up, Lyonnais crashed into the area and forced John Tolkien to touch the ball with his hand on one of his jugulars. Serene, Arnaud Kalimuendo did not waver and opened the scoring for France from the penalty spot (1-0, 35th). And while the last quarter of an hour of the first act was controlled by the hosts, this one-goal lead was not stolen for France: after a difficult start against the stinging Americans, the Blueettes were finally able to respond and French talent made the difference.

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The pace clearly dropped in the second half, France punished at the end of the match

Halftime didn’t just bode well for Thierry Henry’s men. Indeed, when they succeeded in concealing their defensive errors, the latter have resumed their behavior in this direction. However, the lack of American inspiration allowed the French to sleep soundly while the overall rhythm of this second act fell apart. It’s simple, apart from Manu Kone’s unfortunate injury exit on the hour mark, nothing happened in Bonal who were on the verge of turning off the lights in front of such a grim scene. Even Ryan Cherky’s arabesque wasn’t enough for a second goal or to rouse the Sochaux den. However, France was able to take over at the end of the match.

While this same Cherky came close to doubling the lead with a free kick that could have hit the mark by a few centimeters (77th), a shrewd Kalimuendo came up against Schulte again in the second half on a low move (78th). Unhappy when he hit the post during the first act, it was finally Andy Diouf who gave the Bluets a sigh of relief with a fine shot after ideal service from Aklioche (2-0, 80th). But just when we thought the dice had been cast, USA bounced back to everyone’s surprise. Taking advantage of a guilty break, the young transatlantic shot reduced the score thanks to Griffin Yow (2-1, 86th), before equalizing thanks to Cade Cowell (2-2, 89th) which was very porous this evening. A very disappointing draw for Thierry Henry’s gang who will have to really work defensively to avoid repeating the same mistakes in a few months in Paris.