Never, in Didier Deschamps’ eleven years in office, has the French team started a qualifying phase so well. After four victories in four matches since the start of the qualifiers, the Blues can still get closer to Euro 2024, provided they confirm their effectiveness against Ireland on Thursday September 7.
On the eve of the start of the Rugby World Cup, this France-Ireland – final hoped for by some oval ball fans – will not be played at the Stade de France. The Blues of Didier Deschamps have abandoned their Dionysian lair to entrust it to those of Fabien Galthié for the opening match against New Zealand, Friday September 8, and will fall back on the Parc des Princes, in Paris.
The last time the France team played in the Paris Saint-Germain stadium, in November 2021, they won their ticket to the World Cup in Qatar by dispersing Kazakhstan (8-0). This time, they will not obtain qualification by beating Ireland, but could take a big step towards the Euro. Deschamps’ team dominates Group B head and shoulders, with four wins, nine goals scored and none conceded.
“We couldn’t do better,” underlined Aurélien Tchouaméni in Clairefontaine (Yvelines) on Tuesday, while indicating that the Blues want to “win all the matches and finish the group with the maximum number of points”. Against Ireland, the Tricolores are therefore largely favorites but must find new momentum after the end of last season. In June, they took time off after a narrow victory against Greece (1-0), a few days after an unconvincing success against the modest selection of Gibraltar (3-0).
A workforce still in renewal
“We could have had much better efficiency during the last rally and against Gibraltar,” Deschamps conceded at the start of the week. Only one goal scored in the game in two matches, news monopolized by the first upheavals of the conflict between Kylian Mbappé and the management of PSG, fatigue perceptible among many players at the end of an interminable season…
This June gathering left the Blues wanting more, after a great start to qualifying. The show of force against the Netherlands (4-0), at the Stade de France, in March, gave a glimpse of a team in the form of a steamroller, still buoyed by its epic in Doha. A few days later, the Tricolores had difficulty extricating themselves from the Dublin trap against Ireland, winning at the last minute thanks to a clear strike from Benjamin Pavard (1-0).
The Blues would not have won this match without a splendid save from Mike Maignan at the very last minute. After “the difficult match we had to play there, (…) we must not think that it is already settled”, warned Deschamps. The French team is also still in a phase of renewal, particularly in terms of leadership after the international retirements of several executives (Hugo Lloris, Steve Mandanda, Raphaël Varane).
The workforce changed little between June and September, and only Lucas Hernandez, seriously injured in the knee in the first match of the World Cup against Australia, made his return. N’Golo Kanté, who is playing again with his club Al-Ittihad, in Saudi Arabia, was not called up, as was Paul Pogba, who was injured again after the announcement of Deschamps’ list. In their prolonged absence, the coach continues to look for relays in the locker room.
PSG’s new arrows expected in attack
This leadership and the new impetus expected for this return to school will be embodied, once again, by Captain Mbappé, finally at peace with PSG and who is one unit behind Michel Platini in the ranking of the top scorers in the history of football. ‘French team. “It’s been going very well since his appointment as captain,” says Deschamps, who has followed the soap opera around his player, as have those that concerned Ousmane Dembélé and Randal Kolo Muani.
These two players, who are applying respectively as right winger and striker for the France team, joined PSG this summer. A boon for the coach and the Blues. “The fact of rubbing shoulders daily in training, with matches every three or four days with PSG, will allow them to improve their relationship, to have even more important benchmarks, automatisms. There is only positive to the fact that all three of them meet regularly with their club,” said Deschamps.
This Parisian trio will not, however, determine the Blues’ attack line because Olivier Giroud is in great form at the start of the season with AC Milan and Kingsley Coman and Marcus Thuram have not said their last word. Deschamps will still expect better efficiency from certain offensive players, while Giroud and Mbappé have scored three quarters of the France team’s goals over the past year.
A sign that the match against Ireland is being taken very seriously, any unnecessary distraction was avoided on Wednesday: it was not Kylian Mbappé but Antoine Griezmann who presented himself at a press conference, while tradition dictates that this or the captain who answers questions from journalists the day before a match. “I don’t think there would have been many questions about the Ireland game if he had been there. I put the collective interest in front of it,” explains Deschamps.
Anticipating an almost assured success against Gibraltar in November, a victory this Thursday, against the Irish, would almost qualify the French team for Euro 2024, which will be played in Germany. The Blues will face the future host country in a friendly match in Dortmund on Tuesday September 12. A meeting to gauge each other but secondary in the mind of Deschamps. “Our only objective is the match against Ireland,” assures the coach, determined not to miss his return to school.
