At the end of the World Cup, the coach lived three eventful months, between his renewal, the crisis within the FFF leading to the departure of Noël Le Graët, or the controversy with Karim Benzema.
In the life of a coach, nothing is certain. Didier Deschamps knows it better than anyone: he may have led his team to the title of world champion in 2018 and to the final of the last edition of the World Cup in December, lost against Argentina (3-3, 2-4 tab ), the trust of peers and the general public can wane in an instant. Three months after the Doha epic, it has not lost all its credit. But he leaves in a form of the unknown, with a new cycle for the Blues, who start the Euro 2024 qualifiers against the Netherlands on Friday March 24 and Ireland on Monday March 27.
In the space of twelve weeks, Didier Deschamps experienced holidays that were hectic to say the least. The coach was less questioned about his success at the head of the team, than about the various subjects of tension that surround him.
Three days after the lost final, Christophe Dugarry is the first to come and tickle him, in an interview with The Team. The ex-teammate of the coach in Blue wishes “open a discussion: “We got walked on in the World Cup final. How it is possible ? For the good of the France team, this debate must take place“. The future of Didier Deschamps, whose contract is then about to end, remains uncertain, and the candidacy of Zinédine Zidane, without activity since leaving Real Madrid in May 2021, appears in the background.
A controversial extension
On January 7, the coach obtains a contract extension. The duration of the lease, of four years (until 2026), then caused a lot of talk, while the person concerned repeated for a long time that “the France team does not belong to anyone“. For some, this extension looks like a confiscation, especially since it was settled by two, between Didier Deschamps and Noël Le Graët.
Applauded by the winter general assembly of the French Football Federation (FFF), on January 7, during which its extension was formalized, it indirectly suffered new headwinds. The next day, the president of the FFF publicly denigrates Zidane’s candidacy. The beginning of a descent into hell for the leader of the FFF, forced to resign on February 28.
Asked on March 16, when his first list for 2023 was announced, about his relations with Philippe Diallo, the interim president of the FFF, the coach, who was close to Noël Le Graët, answered tit for tat. “I’m not apprehensive, but the key word is: I adapt. I have trades. There is a functioning that can be different“, assures the former Marseille coach, who specifies that “it’s not something that [lui] weighs“.
Manage the departure of executives
The coach is also jostled by one of his former players: Karim Benzema. The 2022 Golden Ball, who left Doha on the sly after an injury just before the start of the World Cup, does not speak but leaves a doubt, with his entourage: he could have been treated in Qatar and played more late in the competition.
For lack of details from the Real Madrid striker, Didier Deschamps takes the lead in The Parisian : “When I leave him, I tell him: Karim, there’s no rush. You organize your return with the team manager. When I wake up, I learn that he is gone. It’s his decision, he won’t tell you otherwise, I understand it and I respect it.” “But what audacity“, will respond Benzema in a message on social networks, complete with a clown emoji.
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In the midst of all these bickering, Didier Deschamps must also think about the field. And after: three historic players of the Blues, Hugo Lloris, Steve Mandanda and Raphaël Varane, announce in turn their international retirement. The coach’s reactions to these decisions are linked from one week to the next in the Whatsapp messaging group dedicated to journalists who follow the news of the Blues.
The new Mbappé era
The management of this renewal is now at the heart of Deschamps’ new mandate, which will therefore begin on Friday against the Netherlands. After eleven years at the head of the Blues, he knows that each of his decisions will have to be even more thoughtful than in the past, at the risk of seeing his reign end in a fishtail, like Joachim Löw with the German selection he has directed for fifteen years.
The choice to name Kylian Mbappé new captain of the Blues has aroused a lot of reactions since Monday. Questioned several times on the subject at Clairefontaine, Deschamps understood what awaited him. “It will become a torture”smiled the coach before adding that “it’s not a sensitive subject“. He will become so if his choice to make the Paris Saint-Germain striker the captain does not bear fruit.
His other decisions – continuing to make Eduardo Camavinga a left-back, summoning a Benjamin Pavard left on the flank throughout the World Cup – will also be scrutinized. Didier Deschamps is starting a new cycle with this rally in March 2023. 2018 World Champion, finalist for Euro 2016 and the 2022 World Cup, he no longer has anything to prove. But still a little all the same.