Learn Hardcore French: Pendant le match du tournoi, notre équipe cherche à rester calme, même quand l’adversaire marque un but. - During the tournament game, our team tries to stay calm, even when the opponent scores a goal.

Pendant le match = during the match
Dans le match would sound more like “inside the match” and is not idiomatic in this context.
Au match means “at the match” (location/event), not “during the match”.

So pendant le match du tournoi literally means “during the match of the tournament.”

What exactly does du mean in le match du tournoi?

Du is the contraction of de + le:

de = of
le = the
de + le → du

So:

le match du tournoi = the match of the tournament / the tournament match.

You use du when you have de + le before a masculine singular noun:

le début du match (the start of the match)
la finale du tournoi (the final of the tournament)

Could you also say le match de tournoi instead of le match du tournoi?

Le match de tournoi is not wrong grammatically, but it sounds odd and unnatural in this context.

le match du tournoi implies a specific match that is part of a known tournament (the one we’re talking about).
le match de tournoi sounds more like “a tournament-type match,” and is not how native speakers normally phrase it.

In practice, French speakers say:

le match du tournoi
un match de tournoi only in certain more abstract/technical contexts (e.g. “a tournament match” as a category).

For your sentence, du tournoi is the natural choice.

Why is it notre équipe cherche (singular) and not notre équipe cherchent (plural)?

In French, équipe is grammatically singular (feminine), even though it refers to many people.

notre équipe cherche → verb agrees with équipe (she/it), not with the players inside it.

So:

Notre équipe cherche à rester calme. ✅
Notre équipe cherchent à rester calmes. ❌ (considered incorrect in standard French)

French generally keeps collective nouns like l’équipe, le groupe, la famille in the singular for verb agreement:

La famille part demain. (The family leaves tomorrow.)

What is the nuance of cherche à in notre équipe cherche à rester calme?

Chercher à + infinitive means “to try to / to seek to / to aim to”.

It is close to:

essaie de rester calme (tries to stay calm)

Nuance:

chercher à can sound a bit more deliberate or goal‑oriented: “strive to / aim to”.
essayer de is more neutral: just “try to”.

In everyday speech both are common:

Notre équipe cherche à rester calme.
Notre équipe essaie de rester calme.

Both are fine here.

Why is it cherche à rester calme and not cherche de rester calme?

In French, different verbs require different prepositions before an infinitive. With chercher, the correct pattern is:

chercher à + infinitive

Examples:

Elle cherche à comprendre. (She is trying to understand.)
Ils cherchent à améliorer leurs performances.

Chercher de + infinitive is not standard. So:

cherche à rester calme ✅
cherche de rester calme ❌

Why do we use rester here? Could we say être calme instead?

Rester means “to remain / to stay,” so rester calme is exactly “stay calm.”

chercher à rester calme = “to try to remain/stay calm”

You could say:

chercher à être calme (try to be calm)

…but rester calme is more precise here, because it suggests maintaining calmness over time despite what happens in the match. That’s the usual expression in this context.

Why is it rester calme and not rester calmes?

The subject is notre équipe, which is:

feminine
singular

The adjective calme therefore agrees with équipe:

notre équipe … rester calme (singular)

Also, calme has the same spelling for masculine and feminine singular. The plural would be calmes, but we don’t use it here because the noun is singular.

Even though the team contains many players, French grammar treats l’équipe as a single unit.

What is the role of même in même quand l’adversaire marque un but?

Here même means “even” in the sense of “even when” / “even if”.

même quand l’adversaire marque un but = even when the opponent scores a goal

It emphasizes that the team stays calm in a particularly difficult situation, not only in easy moments.

Compare:

quand l’adversaire marque un but = when the opponent scores a goal (neutral)
même quand l’adversaire marque un but = even when the opponent scores a goal (adds emphasis)

What’s the difference between même quand and même si here?

Both are possible but not identical:

même quand l’adversaire marque un but
Focus on time: even when the opponent scores (whenever that happens).
même si l’adversaire marque un but
More like: even if the opponent scores (whether or not it actually happens).

In your sentence, même quand suggests real situations during matches.
Même si would sound slightly more hypothetical, though it could still work.

Why is marque in the present tense after quand, and not a future tense like marquera?

In French, when you talk about a general rule or a repeated situation, you often use the present tense even if in English you might sometimes think of a future.

même quand l’adversaire marque un but
= even when the opponent scores a goal (whenever that happens).

It describes a general behavior, not a specific future event.
If you were talking about one specific future match, you could still keep the present in French after quand:

Nous resterons calmes quand l’adversaire marquera is possible,
but quand l’adversaire marque in the present is very common for general or habitual situations.

What does marquer un but literally mean?

Literally:

marquer = to mark
un but = a goal

But as an idiom, marquer un but means “to score a goal.”

Other common sports expressions:

marquer des points = to score points
marquer l’égalisation = to score the equalizer
marquer le but gagnant = to score the winning goal

Why is it l’adversaire (singular) and not les adversaires or something like l’équipe adverse?

French often uses a singular noun with the definite article to talk about “the opponent” in a general way:

l’adversaire = “the opponent / the opposing side” (in this match)

Depending on context you could also say:

quand l’équipe adverse marque un but = when the opposing team scores a goal
quand les adversaires marquent un but = when the opponents score a goal

All can be correct, but l’adversaire is a natural, concise way to refer to the opposing team or player generically.

Is the comma before même quand necessary in French?

The comma in:

… notre équipe cherche à rester calme, même quand l’adversaire marque un but.

is not strictly mandatory but is very natural. It:

marks a slight pause
highlights même quand… as an added, emphasized detail.

Without the comma:

… cherche à rester calme même quand l’adversaire marque un but.

is still correct; it just reads a bit more fluidly and with slightly less emphasis.

Both versions are acceptable in standard written French.