Will we see Thierry Henry and Kylian Mbappé in the France team in the summer of 2024? The hypothesis is more and more probable. While the Paris Saint-Germain striker is tipped to strengthen the France Espoirs team at the Paris Olympics – only three players over the age of 23 can be included in the list – the 1998 world champion has just to be named on the bench of Blueberries, confirmed to the World an elected representative of the French Football Federation (FFF), Monday August 21.
His appointment was voted unanimously in the afternoon by the executive committee of the FFF, meeting by videoconference around its president, Philippe Diallo. The 46-year-old former international, who succeeds Sylvain Ripoll in this position, will have the main mission of preparing the young tricolor guard for the Olympic deadline at home.
Free from any coaching position since February 8, 2023 and the end of his failed adventure with Belgium, where he was assistant to Roberto Martinez, the native of Ulis (Essonne) has since occupied a position as a consultant for Ligue 1 matches. on Prime Video and for CBS Sports on Champions League nights.
Mixed experiences as a coach
Since hanging up his boots at the end of 2014, the former Arsenal star (1999-2007) has had various mixed experiences on the bench. Two years after his retirement from sport and three months after obtaining his coaching diplomas, in August 2016, Thierry Henry was appointed assistant coach of the Belgian Red Devils, a post he left to join AS Monaco in replacement of Leonardo Jardim, in 2018. The story will be short: eleven defeats and four months later, the Francilien is suspended as a precaution, then dismissed.
He rebounds with the Montreal Impact in Major League Soccer, the first North American division, for the 2020 season. The former top scorer for Les Bleus (123 caps, 51 goals) qualifies his team for the playoffs for the first time since 2016 and the door in the quarterfinals of the Champions League of the Confederation of football of North, Central America and the Caribbean.
This successful adventure allows him to return to the Belgian national team, in the shoes of number 2 alongside Roberto Martinez, with a view to Euro 2021. Eliminated in the quarter-finals of the continental tournament by Italy, future winners, the Red Devils are tearing up internally at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, after exiting the competition early in the group stage.
A divisive communication
Announced favorite for the post of coach of the Bleuets for several days, Thierry Henry will have to do better than his predecessor, dismissed on July 31 after six years at the head of the selection. Participating in their first Olympic Games since Atlanta in 1996, the Espoirs had been eliminated in pools in Tokyo in 2021: two defeats, a victory and eleven goals conceded.
Despite a talented generation led by Khéphren Thuram, Amine Gouiri or even Rayan Cherki, the ex-coach of Lorient had subsequently failed to qualify his troops in the semi-finals of the Under-21 Euro, organized this summer in Romania and Georgia. Announced favorite, France lost to Ukraine (1-3) in the quarters.
Criticized for his rather divisive communication – in Monaco, he alienated the locker room by openly criticizing his players during press conferences – Thierry Henry will have to manage the sizeable egos of certain Bleuets. The new coach will also have a roadmap to ensure the presence of his troops at Euro 2025, whose qualifying campaign starts on September 11 with a trip to Slovenia.
