U-19 Euros: France draw with Spain, reach semifinals
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An unbeaten group stage
France completed the group stage of the 2024 U-19 European Championships unbeaten, although the evening for manager Bernard Diomede's side was a nervy one, despite taking an early lead. After wins over Turkey and Denmark in their first two matches, the team were already assured of progression, but fought hard to nick what would be a two-all draw against Spain.
Spain had a few half-chances in the game's early going, but France took the lead on thirteen minutes with a brilliant bit of skill and long-distance shot from AS Monaco youngster Saïmon Bouabré, who scored for the second match in a row. Bouabré's goal was impressive indeed, but Les Bleuets would find further opportunities rather difficult to come by.
Spain would then draw level midway through the second half, with Dani Rodriguez scoring with a fine bit of skill of his own, before Simo Keddari put La Roja ahead ten minutes later with an unstoppable header from a corner. There would be one more twist in this tale, though, as a powerful run and shot by Stade de Reims' Valentin Atangana was turned into the Spaniards' goal, leaving the match deadlocked at two-all.
France notably finish the group stage with the best attack in the competition, having scored eight goals to date, and will be eager to build on that heading into the knockout rounds later in the week.
Ukraine in the semifinals
Having advanced as top seed, with seven points from their three group stage matches, France will take part in the semifinals on Thursday in Belfast at Windsor Park. They'll face a Ukraine side which battled to scoreless draws against the hosts and Norway before defeating ten-man Italy, 3-2 in their final match on Sunday. Manager Diomede cautioned that the opponents' intesnity will bear watching, telling UEFA post-match, "Firstly, we need to recover well because that was an intense match, we need to relax and recover, that’s our main focus. We saw Ukraine’s match [against Italy] and they play like a typical Ukraine team. We will deep dive later when we are ready.”
Lineup (3-4-3):
A. Mirbach; M. Sarr (V. Atangana 79'), J. Jacquet (Y. Gomis 46'), E. Zidane; S. Kumbedi, M Amougou, S. Bouabré (S. Mayulu 70'), D. Assoumani; T. Gomis (L. Michel 79'), E. Kroupi; A. Aiki (J. Bahoya 46')
