It is a painful return to earth. France, long encouraged by a good streak in its first participation in the Futsal World Cup, lost on Sunday, crushed by Ukraine (7-1), in the small final of the competition, in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
Tenth in the world rankings, the blues finished at the foot of the podium, surpassed by Ukraine, although behind in the International Federation (12my).
After conceding the first goal from Ihor Cherniaskyi (11my), Les Bleus tried to come back in the second half by being more creative. The match went wild and the Ukrainians took the lead thanks to Mykhailo Zvarych (22′).my2-0) after a perfect cross from his teammate Rotyslav Semenchenko. In the process, Ayoub Saadaoui (23my2-1) reacted to revive the Blues, but nothing worked.
The French exceeded expectations.
Ukraine, more experienced, quickly increased the score thanks to a double from Yevheni Zhuk (27, 28), then the French took off their goalkeeper to introduce a field player and try to get back on track. But the Ukrainians accelerated their march towards the bronze medal even more with a hat-trick by Danyil Abakshyn (30my30my33my).
In their first participation, the French exceeded expectations by being defeated on Thursday in the semifinals by Argentina (3-2), one of the best nations in this sport, current runner-up in the world and world champion in 2016. La Albiceleste. will play the final on Sunday at the end of the day against Brazil.
