Last night, the French Espoir team faced Italy in a friendly match at the Pierre de Coubertin Stadium in Cannes. It was the Tricolores who opened the scoring through Lacazette before the Transalpins equalized twenty minutes before the end of the match via Paloschi.
A close match was expected between these two teams, leaders of their respective groups for the Euro 2013 qualifications. The match turned out to be quite open. For their first match of the year 2012, Eric Mombaerts’ Espoirs hosted Italy in a friendly last night at the Pierre de Coubertin Stadium in Cannes. This was an opportunity for both coaches to review their squads before getting back to serious matters in June with the reception of Latvia.
Lacazette opens the scoring, Corchia saves his team
A real test for coach Eric Mombaerts that proved to be rather positive even though each team had its half. The French first opened the scoring thanks to Lyon player Alexandre Lacazette.
Aided by superb work from Montpellier’s Benjamin Stambouli, the striker, all alone in the box, placed an unstoppable header for the Italian goalkeeper (30th minute). 1-0 for the Bleuets, who maintained this lead until halftime.
Upon returning from the break, the Transalpins woke up and increasingly dominated the game. They managed to equalize thanks to Alberto Paloshi, also with a header (70th minute). They could have even won if Corchia had not saved his side in front of the empty net after Florenzi had bypassed the Toulouse goalkeeper Ahamada.
The final score was 1-1. A logical result between the two teams, each having had their strong moments. With seven substitutions made, the Tricolore coach was able to gain an idea of some new players in the absence of Coquelin, Sunu, and Mangala. It can be said that the choice will be hard to make for the next match counting for the qualifications…
