France 1-0 Belgium: Jules Koundé's full-back prowess
Tuesday, July 2, 2024
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UEFA's technical observer panel of Ioan Lupescu, Fabio Capello and Michael O'Neill salute France's Jules Koundé for his flexible full-back play against Belgium.
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If the role of today's full-back typically involves as much attacking as defending, then Jules Koundé ticked both boxes in impressive style on Monday.
In the UEFA EURO 2024 round of 16 contest with neighbours Belgium, the France full-back was up against one of the trickiest wingers of the group stage in Jérémy Doku, yet he did not just work hard to contain that threat but also supplied several excellent balls into the box at the other end of the pitch.
This was the verdict of the UEFA technical observer panel of Ioan Lupescu, Fabio Capello and Michael O'Neill, who selected Koundé as Player of the Match for his efforts in France’s 1-0 victory. "He was very strong defensively, very helpful in attacking areas, delivered dangerous crosses and very good one v one defensively against Doku," they said.
The video below offers three examples of Koundé's contribution, starting with the cross that gave Marcus Thuram France's best opportunity of the first period, the striker flashing a header over the crossbar.
The first clip begins with an illustration of France's build-up play with midfielder Aurélien Tchouaméni positioned deep – he was usually either alongside the two centre-backs or just ahead of them – and full-backs Koundé and Théo Hernández pushing upfield. Tchouaméni's switch of play out to the right was one of four attempted diagonal passes from him in the opening period – all successful – and it was the cue for Koundé, marauding up the right, to cross for Thuram's near-miss.
From Koundé, this cross was one of five key passes overall in the match, a total surpassed in a single EURO 2024 game only by Christian Eriksen of Denmark. That number included a cross for another Thuram header in the second half and a low ball for a Kylian Mbappé attempt.
France's three goals so far in Germany have been two own goals and an Mbappé spot-kick but they have been miserly at the other end, with three clean sheets in four matches.
Koundé has been an ever-present in that defence, and clips two and three highlight how the 25-year-old helped to restrict Doku. Where Doku's success rate with take-ons in the group stage had been 43%, against France it was 33% and the second clip shows Koundé getting tight to his man on the byline, edging across before closing the distance fully and halting his progress.
The video ends with him thwarting an attempted Doku delivery. The winger twists one way then the other but Koundé manages to stay tight and block the cross. Not until added time did Doku manage any more crosses – and none of his three late attempts connected with a team-mate.
It is worth adding that Koundé was not the only France full-back to play a key part as Hernández produced an outstanding intervention to block a Yannick Carrasco shot with the Belgian well placed to shoot at 0-0.
"It was a difficult match but I think we dominated it," said Koundé afterwards. "We had chances to score earlier and we did very well defensively. We were under very little danger and we managed to find spaces to hurt them.
"For me, this was our best performance of the competition. We created a lot of chances, we played a complete game, and the goal at the end made sure all our efforts were worth it."
Tactical analysis at EURO 2024
