It has already been more than ten years since Didier Deschamps took on the role of coach of the French men’s football team. When he says that June is “never an ideal time” for internationals, he is therefore speaking from experience. “The players have such overloaded schedules … They all need rest,” summed up the Basque technician on June 9 at a press conference. This is all the more true at the end of a season which will have seen his men finish a fine second in the first Winter World Cup in history, in November and December 2022, in Qatar.
But, before enjoying a well-deserved vacation, the Blues still have “two games on the program” and “six points to add to [their] counter”, insisted “DD”. Friday, June 16, his troops face Gibraltar, in Faro (Portugal). Monday, June 19, at the Stade de France (Seine-Saint-Denis), they have an appointment with Greece.
These two meetings count for qualification for Euro 2024. Alone at the top of Group B, the French opened their way to Germany (June 14-July 14, 2024) with two victories – against the Netherlands (4- 0) and the Republic of Ireland (0-1). They now have the opportunity to widen the gap on their pursuers, while the first two selections of each group validate their ticket for the next continental championship.
Gibraltar inspires little fear
The demonstration, in March, against the Oranje, presented as their main rivals, suggests that these meetings in June are a formality. At least on paper. The poster against Gibraltar is unprecedented and hardly inspires fear for the Blues. The small British enclave on Spanish soil is in 201st place in the International Football Federation (FIFA) rankings, and Didier Deschamps had already been on the tricolor bench for more than a year when the team played its first official match. – it was November 19, 2013 and a friendly against Slovakia (0-0). To date, the Red and Whites have lost all their duels during the Euro qualifying campaigns in which they have taken part.
Crowned continental champion in 2004, Greece is no longer as tough as in the past, absent from the last two editions of the tournament, as from the last two Worlds. And if it is second in Group B before its meeting against Ireland on Friday, it is thanks to its victory against… Gibraltar (3-0).
Monday’s match against “the Pirate Ship” (nickname of the Greek selection) appears to be the “big” piece of the next few days, in the tricolor ranks. “Beware of overconfidence, but I don’t think that will happen to us,” said defender Jules Koundé on Tuesday, June 13. “These are the most complicated games to play because you don’t necessarily know the team, you have to be more determined than usual,” says midfielder Eduardo Camavinga. It’s like against Spain or another team, you have to play hard because they are the best players in a nation. »
Mbappé could equal or even overtake Platini
Didier Deschamps, too, refuses to err on the side of pride: “You have to have respect for Gibraltar. I leave with the idea of ??making the team as competitive as possible. This does not mean that it will be the starting team, but these three points will have the same value as [those of] Monday. The coach of the vice-world champions still has in mind the routs of previous years, in the same period: the two draws against Croatia and Austria and the two defeats against Denmark and Croatia in the League of Nations 2022; the 2-0 conceded against Turkey in the framework of the qualifications for the Euro in 2019 or the 2-1 for the benefit of Sweden during the qualifiers for the world cup in 2017.
Of course, with five possible changes, he acknowledges, “that leaves room” and, in fact, “there will be game time management”. While defender Théo Hernandez, slightly injured in a calf, had to miss training, the technician was also forced to review his plans after the injury packages of left-back Ferland Mendy and midfielder Adrien Rabiot (one of the key men of his device), leaving in this sector of the game a rather inexperienced group – four of the six called up have less than ten caps and only two are aged 25 or more.
“We remain pros and we will be keen to win the matches,” promises Eduardo Camavinga. To conclude their 2022-2023 exercise in style, the Blues will no doubt be able to count on their captain, Kylian Mbappé. “I have only one concern, you will see it [Friday] when I go on the field: it is to help my team win,” he said at a press conference the day before. Match. It is to bet that the star striker, whose future at Paris Saint-Germain is still making headlines, will be keen to continue his quest for records.
Against Gibraltar and Greece, he could equal or even exceed the number of goals in Blue of Michel Platini (41, 4th top scorer in the selection), he who already has 38. And to summarize: “It’s all about mindset. The fatigue is there, but we are ready to make the last necessary efforts. We must never forget that it is a privilege to play for France, we will show that we are proud to wear this jersey. »
