Jugjet Singh
BHUBANESWAR (India):
France have been a revelation in this World Cup, and after beating the Olympic champions, they have set their eyes on the World champions as their next victims.
Ranked a low 20 in the world, the French were predicted to be among the four teams that will make an early exit, but instead, they beat Olympic champions Argentina 5-3, drew 1-1 with Spain and were edged 2-1 by New Zealand in the group stage.
And in the crossover they beat China 1-0 to qualify for the quarter-finals where World No 1 and World Cup champions Australia await them.
“We came to the tournament as the lowest ranked team but we beat Olympic champions Argentina to reach the quarter-finals. And now we will play to beat World champions Australia,” said France coach Jeroen Delmee.
This French team started making waves at the 2013 Junior World Cup in New Delhi where they marched into the final and lost 5-2 to Germany.
On their way to the silver, they beat Malaysia 3-1 in a shoot-out after the semi-finals match ended 1-1.
Malaysia were on fire under coach K. Dharmaraj back then, but overconfidence after taking a fourth minute lead against France, killed their chances of playing in the final.
And France have nine player from the 2013 squad playing at the Kalinga Stadium right now. This what progress is all about.
Their match against China could have gone either way, but the French were more determined.
“Offensively we did very well, but just failed to score [goals] two and three, and we were a bit unlucky also with the ball hitting the post, but the most important thing for us is the win. To be ranked number 20 and to reach the top eight is an amazing achievement for my team.
"Now we will prepare as best we can and hopefully we can perform another very good match (against Australia) with our team,” said Delmee, a former Netherlands international.
Whatever happens in the match against Australia, the French are assured of a top-eight finish while the team who they beat in a shootout five years ago in New Delhi ended 15th out of 16 teams.