This is the story of a coach who has not lost a decisive match in international competition for ten years, in normal time. Since Germany-France (1-0) in 2014 at the Maracana in Rio de Janeiro and a goal from Mats Hummels, higher than Raphaël Varane in his aerial duel. In ten years, only one extra time or two penalty shootouts have covered Didier Deschamps’ summer in gloomy weather, his head in disarray after a Euro 2016 or a 2022 World Cup soared into the skies of Saint-Denis and Doha.
France-Belgium is coming up this Monday, July 1st at the end of the day, the eighth-finals of this Euro and it’s his moment. These pivotal matches, which build an epic or send home, he knows all the pitfalls but also all the outcomes, with his unofficial status as “best coach in the history of the French team” – three finals in the last four tournaments, an unprecedented success in French football.
