THEY are determined to ship. You’ll be able to really feel their want dripping out of each sweat soaked pore.
However the extra the French need to make this championships their very own, the extra it appears decided to not give in.
Final night time right here inside a excessive voltage Velodrome, Les Blues sought to encourage a nation. A rustic which has been so badly broken by unspeakable tragedy in current occasions.
However for ninety minutes they created a trauma all of their very own till, in damage time, substitute Antoine Griezmann emerged with the aim which spared them any extra struggling.
And when Dimiti Payet rounded off a second successive Group A win, with a second successive late strike following his winner towards Romania, it felt as if a load had been lifted the shoulders of a whole nation.
They need this so badly it hurts. And their agony was shared for many of this match. The truth is, they have been solely moments away from a outcome which could have been marked down as one of many worst of their current historical past.
However these two late strikes modified every part. Slowly however certainly, France feels as whether it is on the transfer in the direction of one thing spectacular and momentous.
The indignant skies above this sprawling metropolis had been scowling down since first mild. A thick, gray blanket which threatened to dump its load at any time however which additionally induced the air round this historic port to turn out to be heavy and stifling.
It felt for all of the world as if a storm was brewing approach up there among the many craggy mountain tops which overlook this colossus of a stadium and add to its sense of mystique.
What a spot that is. What a monster to have in your nook because the hosts.
And right here have been the minnows of Albania, these event novices, being marched into city and thrown into the stomach of the beast. It felt virtually like an act of cruelty beneath the gathering gloom.
After which, in fact, there was wee Willie Collum strolling into the thick of it, the person chosen by UEFA to supervise this mauling. However as Scotland is aware of, an official greater than able to wreaking his personal model of chaos. All the weather, then, have been right here together with a house help which was lastly rediscovering its voice and reclaiming its blood stained streets, after the lawlessness visited upon them simply final weekend.
However this was their night time and fervour and keenness with which they belted out La Marseillaise made the very foundations of this magnificent area rattle.
Then, earlier than it might start with a blast of Collum’s whistle, one other second to pause and to mirror on the terrifying modern-day actuality of each day life right here in France. A poignant and highly effective tribute to the 2 cops murdered in their very own residence on the outskirts of Paris earlier this week by one other creature of evil.
A reminder of why this nation may be struggling to completely embrace this competitors. Or why it might not but care an excessive amount of about its end result.
And but so typically prime class sport can present a distraction and a trigger for individuals to unite. It occurred earlier than our very eyes right here final night time as these clouds got here rolling down off the slopes of Monte Puget.
When Olivier Giroud’s header cleared the bar, eight yards out from the Albanian aim, this place was again on its ft once more, roaring and gasping in its pleasure. And for the subsequent ninety minutes it felt as if nothing outdoors of those 4 towering partitions mattered.
It was Albania’s activity to attempt to repel this pressure of nature. And for some time they did simply that, though with every French probe they dropped deeper and deeper into their very own territory till lone striker Armadno Sadiku had develop into so distant and indifferent from his staff mates that he may as nicely have been main the road on a pitch again residence in Tirana.
Have been it not for the large wall of purple shirts behind the objective on the different finish of the pitch, Sadiku may need felt just like the loneliest man in Marseille however these Albanians, many hundreds of them, have been noisy sufficient of their defiance to let him know he was not alone.
And, 24 minutes in, they thought their second of moments had arrived when proper again Elseid Hysaj set off down the flank to jab a harmful cross into the six yard field. Had Hugo Lloris not reacted sharply to stop it getting past his close to publish then the onrushing Amir Abrashi would have slid it residence into an empty internet.
This scare got here as unwelcome jolt to the French followers. For some time it robbed their gamers of momentum too.
Because the clock raced down in the direction of the interval it felt as if even time itself was colluding towards our hosts. And the extra it obtained away type them the extra nervous and heavy legged they turned.
A lot in order that when the break did arrive, it was Albania who had seized virtually all the ascendancy. Have been we truly witnessing the unthinkable?
It was time for supervisor Didier Deschamps, a two time title winner as a participant, to revive some calm and order. He changed Manchester United’s Anthony Martial, who had seemed notably startled, and despatched for star man Paul Pogba, a shock omission from the beginning line-up.
However nonetheless, the French wobbled they usually escaped once more in fifty two minutes when Bacaray Sagna was spooked into bundling the ball in the direction of his personal objectives in a determined try and cease Ledian Memushaj from connecting with a cross. It bounced up and off the left hand publish of Lloris with out the keeper with the ability to attain it at full stretch.
The French response was a frantic one. Directly they started to swarm ahead in numbers once more however they did so with out remembering to convey their composure. Photographs and crosses have been fired from all angles and distances however not one hit its meant goal. There was a component of blind panic creeping in and the house crowd might sense it too.
With every name Collum gave towards them – virtually all of them appropriately by the best way – they howled in derision. However they have been gripped now. Enthralled and on the verge of hysteria.
All of which was the very last item Oor Wullie needed. In his goals this recreation would have been comfortably gained lengthy prior to now. However now all the things was resting on his each choice.
When Giroud fluffed one other header – glancing extensive of the far publish from Kingley Coman’s cross – the nervous pressure was turning into near insufferable.
Worse nonetheless seconds later when the Arsenal man launched himself at one other one and noticed his effort kiss the bottom of Etrit Berisha’s proper hand submit.
Deschamps changed the artful Coman with the extra prolific Griezmann as this hunt for a profitable objective reached desperation stage.
On the stroke of ninety minutes the sub delivered, steering a cross from Adil Rami past Berisha’s attain and bursting by way of the strain like a scorching needle via the pores and skin of a balloon.
Payet then added the of completion when the person of the match and his dancing ft made it into the Albanian field one final time and he curled residence one other jaw dropper.
Sure, France is on the transfer once more. Quickly they only could be unstoppable.