France turned a tight Nations League contest into a 4-1 rout of Belgium by scoring four times in the final 13 minutes, a burst that left Belgium’s good play with nothing to show for it. Michael Olise was among the scorers, and the late surge made the result look far more one-sided than it had been for most of the match.
That is why the result is being searched now. France did not win through one quick break or a single moment of luck; they kept playing their game and got their rewards, with all four late goals coming from substitutes. Olise’s finish was the sharpest example, after he controlled the ball and beat Vandevoort, while Doue and Olise also combined down France’s right side for one of the late goals. Cherki added another, and France suddenly had the kind of depth that changes a group race in an instant.
Before the match, Belgium were expected to have De Bruyne and Tielemans back in, and that matters because this defeat did not look like a collapse from start to finish. Belgium played well for long stretches and even after France had started to open the game up, there were moments that suggested the contest was still there. Barcola sent one effort just past the base of the post, but France still had enough options to keep pressing and enough substitutes to alter the game when it mattered most.
That is the part Belgium will not like, because the late scoreline hides how competitive the match was before France surged clear. Ewan Murray described France as having so many options for so many different situations, and said there is so much firepower in the squad that it is almost impossible to keep them out for 90 minutes. He also noted that France may still need to find a way of playing against Spain, which is a warning even in victory: they can overwhelm teams, but their defence can be got at.
The wider group picture also shifted around this result. Italy beat Turkey 3-1, Northern Ireland drew 0-0 with Georgia and now top the group by a point from Hungary, while Italy moved above Belgium into second place behind France. For Belgium, the encouraging part is simpler and probably more important than the table: with De Bruyne and Tielemans expected to return, they should be able to offer more going forward. For France, the message is harsher for everyone else — they can look contained for long spells and still end the night purring.
The unanswered question is not whether France can score. It is how anyone is meant to stop them once the match opens, because four substitutes changed the last 13 minutes and changed the whole shape of the group.
