Barely qualifying for the 2022 World Cup on Saturday night after the match against Kazakhstan (8-0), Didier Deschamps turned to the next match against Finland. This Tuesday, November 16, the Blues will play their last meeting of 2021 and the last match of Group D during a confrontation without a stake. Except for Finland, as the coach recalled at a press conference at the Parc des Princes.
“From an accounting point of view, it will have no impact in our group, although it may have one for second place which concerns Finland and other teams. (…) We will have the duty to respect all the opponents, to play the match for the same objective“, underlined Deschamps. In the cold of an enclosure which he knows well, the Olympic stadium of Helsinki where he made his debut as coach in official competition on September 7, 2012 (1-0), the boss of the Blues still planned to make some changes in his starting XI.
But the goal remains the same: to win. First to ensure that the second place of the group, which grants a barrage ticket, will be played fairly between Finland, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Ukraine. But also because the France team would be on the wrong track by deciding to take this match lightly. From a statistical point of view, the Habs could chain a 27th consecutive game without defeat in official competition, equaling the record established between September 1994 and March 1999.
The defeat against this same Finland (0-2) almost a year ago to the day in a friendly match, and the elimination against Switzerland at the Euro (3-3, 4-5 tab), do not count in the calculation. On the other hand, this series of invincibility counts. “We finish this qualifying course and I want us to intend to finish it well“, Deschamps argued at a press conference Monday evening. Beyond the purely statistical aspect, this match against Finland is of significant importance in view of the calendar for the year 2022 of the France team.
Before starting the World Cup on November 21, 2022 in Doha, the Blues will regroup only three times: for a friendly tour in March – probably in Qatar, already -, and for the League of Nations in June and September. The Deschamps players will not meet again until a week before the start of the World Cup, certainly without having time to organize a friendly meeting.
Start of training the day before the match in the coolness of Helsinki (felt-1 ° C) pic.twitter.com/RhfAnJBjjU
– France team ⭐⭐ (@equipedefrance) November 15, 2021
The matches – and therefore the possibilities for the coach and his staff to refine his team – are therefore numbered. This meeting against Finland, as anecdotal as it is for the France team at the end of the qualifying campaign, should allow the Blues to continue to tame the 3-4-3 that Deschamps has adopted since September and which seems to have settled permanently after the victory in the League of Nations. “The more repetition the better“, underlined Deschamps yesterday.
Difficult to master, this game system offers considerable advantages to the Blues. The danger no longer comes only from Paul Pogba, creator and metronome of this French team. The attacking trio and the privileged relationship between Karim Benzema and Kylian Mbappé have a lot to do with it. Like the sides, with an uninhibited Theo Hernandez (one goal and three assists in four selections) and an interesting Kingsley Coman at the right piston position on Saturday against Kazakhstan.
If Deschamps is preparing to turn tonight against Finland with four or five expected changes, he could again align the Bayern Munich winger in this position which is foreign to him and in the face of opposition far more dangerous than Kazakhstan. Sign that the coach wants to take advantage of this a priori game without issue to work on certain automatisms and pay attention to details. Obviously, this meeting will also be an opportunity to play liberated, for once without pressure, and to give playing time to the substitutes.
For the latter too, these 90 minutes against Finland must be put to good use. First to allow them to acclimatize to the new game system of the Blues if necessary in the coming months. “Whatever players are aligned, we must master this system to be more efficient in the future.“, said Hugo Lloris yesterday. But also to confirm the breath of fresh air blowing on the France team with the emergence of several players such as Aurélien Tchouaméni, Jules Koundé, Theo Hernandez or even Dayot Upamecano and Moussa Diaby.
“There are few matches in Blue, so you have to seize the opportunities when they arise“, warned Hugo Lloris yesterday at a press conference, in a message to his new teammates. Despite a”little relaxation in relation to the situation“, as noted by the captain of the France team, the objective is”to end the calendar year well“. The terminus of this year 2021 is very close. To the Blues to ensure the exit.