Chapter 731 - 731: Chapter-729 The Match End

In the France dressing room at Mané Garrincha Stadium.

The air conditioning had chased off the stifling heat.

The players finally felt some relief. The unit wasn't set too low—not for their health's sake but it was still a world better than outside.

Everyone changed shirts, wiped down the sweat, drank to replenish fluids.

A two-goal lead had put them at ease.

When Deschamps walked in, his expression was still severe. In his mind, as long as the final whistle hadn't blown, there was no room to relax.

He looked at the whole squad and said, "Good work in the first half. Solid defence, efficient attack—Julien's goal and assist, Olivier's finish, and everyone's combination play. All of it deserves credit.

But we cannot let our guard down. A 2-0 lead is not absolutely safe.

This is a dangerous scoreline. I can guarantee it—Nigeria will make major adjustments in the second half. They have no way back."

Deschamps moved to stand beside the tactics board.

He pointed at Nigeria's formation on the board. "Keshi won't let this get any worse without a fight. In the second half, they'll push everyone forward and abandon the defensive shell they've been sitting in.

My read is that they'll push Musa and Moses fully forward, no more tracking back—they'll throw everything at our flanks.

Mikel will push up too, cut back on his defensive duties, get more involved in the buildup, try to force it through the middle or break out wide, chase the equalizer fast.

Their back line will step up as well, compress the space they defend, and give the attack support from behind. Their aim is clear—throw everything at it, score as quickly as they can, and knock us off our rhythm."

The players nodded, one after another.

They clearly agreed with Deschamps' read. After all, once you're behind, only attacking can save you.

Deschamps pointed to Julien's position on the board. "To answer their adjustment, we make one of our own—and the core of it is freeing up Julien."

Deschamps looked at Julien.

"In the first half," he went on, "your dropping deep to link play and your runs from midfield tore their defence apart. In the second half, I don't need you locked between midfield and the front line anymore, and I don't need you tied to either flank.

Roam wherever you want up front. There is no fixed position. Wherever there's a gap, that's where you go.

Drift between their back line and midfield. Keep tearing at that seam. Once they push forward, there's going to be a gap between their defence and midfield—that's your chance.

Take every gap you find. Either go for goal yourself, or open space for a teammate. Pull their defensive shape apart completely."

Then Deschamps turned to the rest of the squad, stressing the importance of combination play, and went further into the details of the tactics.

The first ones he addressed were Pogba and Cabaye.

"You two drop back a little in the second half, hold the middle, stop Nigeria from cutting through the centre or hitting us on the break. Once Mikel pushes up, there will be gaps in the middle—cover them in time. And keep an eye on Julien's position. The moment he finds space, get the ball to him without hesitation. Give it to whoever's the biggest threat."

Then he turned to Debuchy and Evra.

"Your wide defending needs to hold up. Their wingers are going to come at you with everything. Don't press forward blindly—your priority is holding the flank, stopping their break. The moment you win the ball, look for Julien first, same as before—a long ball or a through ball, get the counter moving fast.

Olivier, keep holding up top, be the target man, tie down their centre-backs.

Antoine, keep making those runs, link up with Julien. The two of you work off each other, keep stretching their defensive gaps wider, and make Julien's movement even more dangerous."

Deschamps paused, then drove the point home again. "Everyone remember this—our tactical core in the second half is built around Julien. His movement is going to be our sharpest weapon.

Nigeria pushing forward is actually good for us. Their back line is going to get stretched thin. If we stay patient, keep our passing sharp, and let Julien use his mobility and his pull on their defence to the fullest, we'll keep creating chances, extend the lead, and put this game away for good.

Don't relax just because we're up 2-0. There's no such thing as an absolute lead in a knockout match. Not a single minute is safe to switch off."

Deschamps let his eyes sweep the room one more time. "Our target isn't to hold 2-0. It's to win this match and go through to the quarterfinals."

"Yes Boss!"

Soon after, halftime came to an end.

The second half was about to begin.

As the players walked back out, it was the hottest hour of the day.

Straight out of the air-conditioned room, they already felt sticky all over.

Boom!

Boom, boom!!

But up in the stands, the fans kept roaring, undimmed, cheering without a trace of fatigue.

That's the pull of football.

Peep!

At the referee's whistle, the second half began.

France kicked off.

Just as Deschamps had predicted in the dressing room, Nigeria abandoned the defensive shell entirely and threw everyone forward into the attack.

They came pressing straight at France.

France was ready for it. The instant Nigeria pressed out; France hit them straight in behind.

Unfortunately—Giroud, maybe thrown off by the sun, didn't get his first touch quite right.

The ball was cut out.

Nigeria surged into the attack right away.

Mikel picked the ball up centrally and slid it wide right. Musa used his pace to get past Debuchy and cut inside the box before whipping in a cross.

Emenike rose high and met it with a header.

The ball drifted just wide of the post.

Nigeria kept up the pressure after that—breaks down the wings, runs through the middle, wave after wave but they still couldn't get through France's defence.

Pogba and Cabaye did exactly what Deschamps had told them: dropped back a little, held the centre, covered in time.

They cut out Nigeria's passes over and over.

Debuchy and Evra held their ground on the flanks, and their well-drilled defending shut down Moses and Musa's breaks time and again.

Nigeria's attack looked fierce, but it never once got near the French goal.

If anything, pushing so far forward left their back line wide open.

So the instant France won the ball back, they broke forward fast.

Julien had cut himself loose from any fixed position entirely, roaming freely up front, drifting between Nigeria's back line and midfield.

Wherever there was a gap, that's where he went.

His fluid movement tore Nigeria's defence—already stretched thin from pushing forward into even more of a mess.

Giroud held the line up top as the target man.

Griezmann linked up with Julien, both of them making constant runs to stretch the defence's gaps even wider.

Pogba, waiting in midfield with the ball ready to go, released it the instant he spotted a gap for Julien, making Julien the focal point of every French break.

In the 58th minute of the second half, France found a dangerous chance on the counter.

Cabaye cut out Mikel's pass and sent a long ball forward to find Julien, who was roaming in the final third. Julien took it down and shrugged off two defenders in the same motion.

He drove quickly to the edge of the box and slipped a through ball.

Griezmann cut into the box and shot from a tight angle, but Nigeria's keeper Enyeama got down and made a strong save, denying France the chance to add to the lead.

Barely five minutes later, France broke again. Julien picked the ball up on the left, combined with Griezmann for a give-and-go, cut into the box, and squared it across.

Giroud got there and shot, and the ball struck the post and bounced away.

Nigeria escaped again.

The wave of counter-attacks left Nigeria's attacking rhythm falling apart, it was becoming harder and harder to sustain.

They couldn't cover everything at once.

Passes went astray more often, the defence grew looser and looser. Desperate to pull a goal back, they kept walking straight into France's counter-attacking traps.

The 71st minute.

Nigeria pushed forward again, but Mikel's pass was cut out.

The ball went to Pogba's feet.

Pogba got it straight through to Julien, who was in the middle of the pitch in the final third.

By then, Nigeria's back line was scrambling to get everyone home. The instant Julien took the ball, he spun quickly, shaking off the defender closing him down from behind.

He carried it forward to the edge of the box, facing Yobo, who'd stepped up to block him.

Julien didn't go for the dribble, and he didn't pass either—he shifted his body weight just slightly, a feint that bought him a step of separation from the defender.

Then he snapped into a hard right-footed strike.

Bang!

Julien let it fly!

The ball screamed toward goal. Enyeama reacted and threw himself at it, but this time he couldn't get anywhere near its path.

It slammed into the net.

Swish!

Goal!

3-0!

Julien had his second of the day. France extended the lead to 3-0!

That goal shattered whatever hope of a comeback Nigeria had left, and it sent the whole stadium into another frenzy.

Boom!

Boom, boom!!

The French fans went wild.

Julien sprinted all the way to the front of the stands and threw his arms open toward them.

"Julien!"

"Julien!!"

The fans roared his name, throwing their fists in the air without restraint.

His teammates came sprinting over too.

Pogba scooped Julien straight off his feet, shouting like he had gone mad, "YOU'RE FU*KING BEAUTIFUL!"

The roar from the French fans was deafening, echoing across every corner of Mané Garrincha Stadium.

The Nigerian players, by contrast, stood where they were, heads down.

Despair, frustration, dejection—every feeling was spreading through them.

Attack after attack had come to nothing, and now, three goals down, they'd lost the will to fight. Some stood with hands on hips, some hung their heads.

On the sideline, the contrast between Deschamps and Keshi said everything about how the two teams stood.

One was pumping his fist, lost in celebration.

The other, head down remained sunk in gloom.

But Keshi hadn't fully given up the fight.

As play went on—Keshi moved fast to make his substitutions, taking off Mikel and Emenike, both of them running on empty, and bringing on two attacking players, a last desperate throw of the dice—one goal to save some face, one goal to leave the team a shred of dignity.

By this point, Nigeria had no shape left at all.

Their attacking got more and more frantic.

Everyone pushed forward at once, the back line left standing empty—nothing left but a kind of all-or-nothing resolve.

They launched into a wild, all-out assault.

The players ran and ran, grinding through it on sheer will.

And yet—the gap in quality, and the gap in mentality, both showed through in the end.

France's defence was airtight.

They gave Nigeria nothing.

In the 78th minute, Nigeria got their closest look at a goal in the whole second half.

Moses broke through on the left and whipped in a cross. A substitute forward got in behind and met it at the near post, but he rushed the strike and skied it over, missing the best chance he'd get to save face.

After that miss, whatever fight was left in the Nigerian players drained away, and the resolve on their faces made way to numbness.

Deschamps made his own substitutions too.

He took off Julien, Giroud, and the other core starters, bringing on substitutes to settle into the rhythm and run down the clock—both to keep the starters fresh for what came next, and to give the bench some game time.

When Julien came off, the French fans in the stands broke into applause again.

In the end—France gave Nigeria nothing.

The 3-0 scoreline held all the way to the final whistle.

Peep!

At the referee's long final whistle, the match was officially over.

The score stood at 3-0. On the back of Julien's brace and an assist, France beat Nigeria comfortably and advanced to the quarterfinals of this World Cup.

The instant the whistle blew, the French players erupted, throwing their arms around each other, waving their arms in the air, letting the joy of victory pour out.

The substitutes ran onto the pitch and threw their arms around their teammates.

Up in the coaching box, Deschamps broke into a broad smile, exchanging high-fives with his staff, his face full of relief.

The Nigerian players stood with their heads down. Some crouched on the grass, hands over their heads.

Some tried to console each other, but couldn't hide the loss in their eyes. They had given everything, but in the end, it wasn't enough against a France side a level above them—and even less against a Julien in this kind of form.

Nigeria left this World Cup carrying the sting of a heavy three-goal defeat.

Up in the stands—the roar of French fans was deafening.

Tricolor flags waved through the crowd, and "Allez les Bleus" echoed again and again over Mané Garrincha Stadium.

Inside the ground and out, celebration was everywhere.

At that moment, French commentator Alphonse was just as fired up, shouting, "The match is over!

"3-0!

"France beat Nigeria comfortably and are through to the quarterfinals!

"We did it!

"This was a perfect win—a win for Deschamps' tactics, a win for Julien's individual brilliance, and even more, a win for the whole team's unity and fight!

After going through, the opponent waiting for us will be the winner of Germany against Algeria, kicking off in two hours!

That match is going to be one to watch too. Whoever comes out of it, I believe this France side, in the form they're in right now, has every reason to believe they can beat them and keep going!

I'll say it—right now, most French fans out there are hoping our next opponent is Germany.

Why?

Because we want revenge!

At the semifinal of Euro 2012, it was Germany who knocked us out, and we missed our shot at the final. To this day, thinking back on that match still stings.

The reason we lost that match, in large part, came down to this—Julien got hurt in extra time against Italy in the round before, and he couldn't play.

Without him at the core, our attack lost its soul, and in the end, we fell short.

But it's not like that anymore.

This France squad is at full strength, Julien's on fire, and Pogba, Griezmann, Giroud, and the rest are clicking. We won't have that same regret again!

If we draw Germany in the next round, that's our moment for revenge.

Two years of regret—it's time to finally put it to rest!"

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