Coach Le Thuy Hai: 'Without extra time, France is still the champion'

While the championship candidate Germany had to stop in the semi-finals, the French team was rated higher by coach Le Thuy Hai in the final match. With a confident mentality and progress through each round, Mr. Hai predicted that the home team could be crowned after 90 minutes of the final match.

France holds many advantages

Up to this point, like most experts, Coach Le Thuy Hai admits that the French team is holding many advantages. Before the final match, Mr. Hai commented:

“I think there is a lot to say about the final. If we go back in time, no one would have thought that Portugal would reach this final, but now they are here and are the opponents of the host, France. If we look at the statistics, the two teams have met many times, including at the finals. The past is already there, and if we only look at a specific match like this, we have to judge that France is better than Portugal. But with the way the two teams played, it is not certain that France will beat Portugal, at this point we have to say that.

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Of course, France is the host with the advantage of time, place and people. Moreover, the French team just played well in the semi-final against the German team, so they are very confident. From the past matches, especially the semi-final, I found the French team's goalkeeper (Hugo Lloris - PV) to be very good. In the match against Germany, he saved many shots that I found very difficult, and calm. It is also possible that in a lucky match with excellent form on an impromptu match day, Hugo Lloris played so well, but after all, I still highly appreciate the French team's goalkeeper. But football is always harsh and as we often say, nothing can be predicted.

The final of a major tournament like EURO is always tense, fierce, even harsh, but I don't think France and Portugal will have to play extra time. Just like the semi-final, I predicted that Germany and France would settle the score in 90 minutes without overtime, and I think the confrontation between France and Portugal will have a similar outcome.

Because Portugal is not good at defending, the same goes for the French team in the recent match against Germany, they did not play defensively. I noticed that the French team organized defense with many lines but they actively fought for possession. If you pay attention from the semi-final match, when the German team held the ball, the opponent within a range of 30-40m had to have at least 4 to 5 people defending. But in situations like that, France played with only a maximum of 4 people in that area. The French players always fought for the ball very quickly and fiercely. They chased actively, forcing the opponent to play quickly, if they were not fast, they would not be able to play, they would lose the ball or be forced to return it. The way the French team plays now is good in that way, but to do well, they must be physically fit, requiring very high strength.

No probing

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Although this is the final match, with both France and Portugal, I don't think they will probe each other, play cautiously to bring the match to a scenario where the winner/defender must be determined by penalty kicks.

I rated the French team higher in the final and it is true that the home players improved with each match. They played quickly and always solved the problem early, without having to wait to go deep to the sideline to cross the ball. The French players always play quickly, handle the ball decisively and I think their two wingers played very skillfully. The situation where France scored the second goal in the semi-final win over Germany was a neat move, then crossed the ball in, the goalkeeper punched it out but another player rushed in very quickly without committing a foul. The ball bounced back and number 7 (Antoine Griezmann - PV) handled it quickly and neatly.

It is very difficult to evaluate or predict matches like the final, but I think that the French team will get better and better with each match. Although not many people think that France and Portugal will meet in this final match, football is cruel, plus the element of surprise. Therefore, I want to repeat the familiar saying in football: No one can predict anything. Many people will think that saying this is general and not good, but that is how football really is."

According to TTVH