European Football Championship Deschamps’ joy over lackluster French
National coach Didier Deschamps (r) and France’s superstar Kylian Mbappé celebrate the victory against Belgium. Photo
© Marcus Brandt/dpa
France is in the quarter-finals of the European Championship against Portugal. The 2018 world champions are convincing with their defensive strength rather than their attacking whirlwind. The top star will have to prepare for a restriction for a while longer.
Didier Deschamps was in a great mood. The coach of the French national team sat smiling on the podium in the catacombs of the Düsseldorf EM Arena and enjoyed life. The next staid performance of his football minimalists did not seem to bother the 55-year-old. The only thing that mattered was success. His starting team, including exceptional striker Kylian Mbappé, could have narrowly lost against Belgium. Then Deschamps would probably have had to fear for his job. But his team won thanks to an own goal. So there was no reason for Deschamps to criticize.
“I’m very proud of what we did,” he said, even talking about a great game. “We qualified for the quarter-finals and that’s exactly what we wanted.” Deschamps demanded: “We have to enjoy it. We can’t downplay it.”
Griezmann: “On the right track”
The Basque has been the French national coach since 2012. In the last four major tournaments, he and his team reached the final three times and became world champions in 2018. The results prove Deschamps right. Nevertheless, the Équipe Tricolore remains an enigma. The offensive line around superstar Kylian Mbappé, Marcus Thuram, Randal Kolo Muani and Ousmane Dembélé is outstanding. Nevertheless, France plays uninspired, one could even say boring. Christoph Kramer, Germany’s 2014 world champion, summed up the performance in the 1-0 win against Belgium as follows: “Few ideas, little movement, little depth.”
In four matches at this European Championship, France has not scored a single goal from open play. Mbappé scored from the penalty spot. Otherwise, the French benefited from two own goals.
Against Belgium on Monday, the French attackers appeared surprisingly apathetic for large parts of the game. But because Kolo Muani didn’t hit the ball properly and Belgium’s Jan Vertonghen deflected the ball unstoppably into his own goal, veteran striker Antoine Griezmann was able to say after the game: “Our goal is the final. We are well on the way to that.” Midfielder Aurélien Tchouaméni stated: “We want to win, that’s what it’s all about. It doesn’t matter whether you score three or 15 goals.”
The next opponent in the round of 16 also lackluster
Instead of an offensive spectacle, Les Bleus have shown defensive skills at the European Championships, and have only conceded one goal so far. The player of the Belgium match was not masked man Mbappé or joker Kolo Muani, but right-back Jules Koundé. The 25-year-old is not worried despite the weak attacking performance. “I have a lot of confidence in the team. We will score goals,” he said.
Portugal awaits in the quarter-finals, the very team that defeated France in the final of the 2016 European Championship and destroyed their dream of winning the title at home in Paris. Portugal showed back then how minimalism can be used to become European champions. Of the seven tournament games leading up to the title, the team led by world star Cristiano Ronaldo only won one in regular time. Portuguese performances were rarely truly convincing.
Like France, the Iberians did not shine in the round of 16 on Monday. The Seleção only won against Slovenia on penalties. In view of the performances shown so far, the upcoming showdown on Friday in Hamburg is not a duel between two title contenders for France’s then-suspended midfielder Adrien Rabiot: “For me, the favorites are Spain, Germany and Switzerland,” he said.
According to his coach, captain Mbappé will also be wearing his unpopular protective mask in the round of the best eight teams because of his broken nose. “He will have to get used to it because he will have to wear the face mask for a few more weeks,” said Deschamps. Mbappé has already made it clear in clear terms that the custom-made mask bothers him. But only the 25-year-old himself knows to what extent it explains his mixed performances so far in this tournament.
dpa
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