(Clairefontaine-en-Yvelines) After the list of 25 Blues, the start of the gathering represents the second stage of conquest for the France team, 20 of which players attacked the preparation for Euro-2024 in Clairefontaine on Wednesday, under rain, but bathed in ambition.
Gathering ! All that is missing are the Madrid players from Real and two Milan players, “who will join us on Monday evening”, specifies coach Didier Deschamps.
Eduardo Camavinga and Ferland Mendy are preparing for the Champions League final against Borussia Dortmund, which Aurélien Tchouameni will not be able to play (he is treating his left foot), but which he will live with his teammates.
Théo Hernandez and Olivier Giroud went to the antipodes to play a friendly AC Milan-AS Roma in Perth in Australia which hardly suited Didier Deschamps, but which escaped goalkeeper Mike Maignan, who is nursing a small injury to a finger.
Otherwise they are all there, from captain Kylian Mbappé, who arrived last in persistent rain, to right side Jonathan Clauss, who will play his first major international competition, who arrived first.
Kanté’s “natural” smile
The photographers and cameramen were watching for the outfit of the “sapper” Jules Koundé. Cowboy boots, bell-bottom jeans, orange tie and leather jacket: dazzling, like N’Golo Kanté’s smile.
“Normal, natural, smiling. He knows the castle,” said Deschamps of the surprise of his list, who has not played for the French team for two years.
The 2018 world champion “is not disoriented,” smiled Deschamps. “It’s not the same situation as Bradley Barcola coming for the first time. He also has a beautiful smile. Like all the players who arrived this afternoon.”
The first day of the course was calm. The bike ride in the Clairefontaine forest was canceled due to the weather. “There will be a double session tomorrow (Thursday),” warned Deschamps. “Until Sunday, oxygenation work for almost everyone,” detailed the coach. “It’s not today that we have to put ourselves into competition mode, it’s not yet the time.”
Then it will be time to switch to the most intense preparation, with two friendly matches, June 5 in Metz against Luxembourg, June 9 in Bordeaux against Canada, before joining their base camp in Paderborn (North Rhine-Westphalia). ) on the 12th and face their first opponent, Austria, on the 17th in Düsseldorf.
“Cohesion, unity, solidarity”
Fifteen days, Deschamps finds that “it’s too short, but I’m adapting”. “I’m not a magician. It is not with the time given to us that we can change anything. We can talk about preparation without it really being preparation since there are two matches and the time is reduced.”
He plans to “go to the essentials”, with a little time for the “tactical aspect”.
During his opening press conference, Deschamps defended his most often aligned hinge since the 2022 World Cup, Dayot Upamecano and Ibrahima Konaté. The first only played one minute of Bayern Munich’s four matches in the quarter and semi-finals of the Champions League, the second has not played with Liverpool since April 24.
“These are two players who played a lot during the season,” underlined Deschamps.
He recalled that Koundé was there to play right back, where he played almost exclusively at FC Barcelona in 2024, “that allowed him to repeat,” said the coach.
In short, “the human adventure of a great competition” is launched and Deschamps wants to be optimistic. He explained to AFP that he found it “logical” that France, vice-world champion, “is one of the favorites”.
On Wednesday he insisted on “the notion of group, cohesion, unity, solidarity, with obviously many qualities on the football level”.
“The goal for me and my staff, is to not lose anyone, as the lists are a little wider. Collective strength is not something that wins the match, but without it, it is difficult to hope to be competitive. »