In their first official tournament in preparation for the EuroHockey Nations Championship - a qualifing event for the London 2012 Olympic Games – the French team impressed to earn a rare victory against one of the major nations in world hockey.
On Monday, the French faced Pakistan in Ireland, opening the 4 Nation tournament being hosted by University College Dublin.
Pakistan are a team that has already qualified for the 2012 Olympic Games thanks to success in the Asian Games last November, and are training hard in anticipation of next year's event in London. The French recorded a 4-2 win in a match in which they held a three goal lead on two occassions.
With a close-knit squad and a permanent aggressiveness, “les Bleus” dominated the Pakistani team. The French team provided few opportunities for Pakistanis to level the score, offering only a limited number of penalty corners to the opposing team.
For Scott Goodheart, national head coach, "We deserved to win; the players do not give up and played as if it was their last game", said France Head Coach Scott Goodheart. "Even when we were in trouble, there was no panic and it is due to the hard work during the last few weeks at the INSEP."
This historic victory shows that the squad has the ability to achieve great things.
France 4 (J-B Pauchet, T Genestet, O Sanchez, M Catonnet)
Pakistan 2 (Rizwan Senior, M Tousiq).
