Thierry Angry
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Reading Time: 2min | Tue. 21.11.23. | 11:43
French legend is furious because his France U21 side ended the year with two losses
France's Under-21 team, normally one of the most dominant youth sides in the world, finished its year with a severe 3-0 defeat to South Korea on Monday in a friendly in Le Havre. This annoys Thierry Henry, who regretted the lack of personality and the defensive blunders of his players in Normandy.
A nightmarish end of the year. After being defeated in Austria on Friday in the Euro 2025 qualifiers (2-0), the France Espoirs team collapsed against South Korea on Monday against the Asian side. Weighted down by their defensive errors, the Blues were humbled. After a lovely free-kick, Sangbin Jeong scored a double by taking advantage of a centre which Guillaume Restes dealt with poorly. The Toulouse goalkeeper then allowed Yin-Sang Hong to get another goal after yet more comical defending.
The team's coach Thierry Henry is annoyed - and that's putting it mildly. The Bleuets coach did not conceal his displeasure after the game.
"You can't afford to concede goals like this. The second and third are quite comical. Let the ball pass like this over a centre... After that, there is no need to be at fault for the free-kick. And the last goal is too silly to even talk about it."
The 46-year-old former Arsenal captain also regretted the lack of "realism" of his players in Normandy:
"There's something called in football being realistic. When you create so many opportunities and you don't make them count, you allow the opposing team to punish you. The free kick was still good, but the other two goals were avoidable. Even though we were better than in Austria in terms of combativity, the result is still horrible. The last two goals we allowed are inexplicable."
Between the defeat in Austria and this home slap against South Korea, the French youngsters did not score any goals. This is a worrying observation eight months before the 2024 Paris Olympics - in which these players should be on top of their game.
"We created opportunities tonight, and we have one-on-one, heads saved on the line, a bar... There have been many opportunities."
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