Belgium head coach Mark van Bommel on France’s 4-1 comeback in twenty three minutes:
“I know the scoreline says 4-1, but I think we were lucky we even got one.
We had a plan coming into this game: suffer, make life miserable for France, stay compact and make sure they couldn’t find the spaces they wanted.
We managed to keep them quiet in the first half and make life difficult for Dembélé.
At the break, I called my players and told them, ‘We’ve got through the first challenge. Now we have to stay on them as hard as possible.’
Then Zidane started making substitutions.
He brought on Da Cunha, Olise and Cherki at the same time. I stood at the touchline and told myself, ‘We could be finished here.’
Olise and Cherki came in, and less than two minutes later he brought on Doué.
I scratched my head and thought, ‘What have we done to Zidane? We only came here to compete, but it seems he has other plans.’
It wasn’t even five minutes before Doué scored an absolute screamer.
I couldn’t move when the ball went in. I stood still and just watched. I didn’t want to say anything to my players yet because I knew something had changed.
Then, within two minutes, Olise sped through my defender and put a marvelous cross on a plate for Cherki, and he finished it.
I told myself, ‘Yeah, that is exactly why Zidane brought them in.’
In ten minutes, the three substitutions ended the work we had done for 50 minutes.
And think about this: with 30 minutes remaining on the time board, we were winning 1-0.
Before the game ended, we had lost 4-1.
There is no better explanation for that than Michael Olise.
I’ve been on the losing side before, but this is one loss where you know you’re definitely going to lose. At that point, I thought it was over.
And in the 86th minute, Olise said, ‘I must have my say.’
He didn’t need to shoot the ball.
He just glided through and tore our defence apart.
That’s what I like about him.
He doesn’t talk.
He plays football.
I see a lot of Ballon d’Or shouts for Lamine Yamal, Harry Kane and other players.
But how Michael Olise is not getting those shouts is an absolute shocker to me.
Because, to me, he’s my favourite to win the Ballon d’Or.
He changed the game tonight completely. From the moment he came onto the pitch, we knew it was over.
And he made it two goals for Olise.
I don’t see any player deserving the Ballon d’Or more than that magician.”
[ This is the source @UTD_Seth001 ]