Greece-France, a match without stakes but not without interest

Already qualified and assured of being seeded at Euro 2024, the France team plays its last match of the year in Greece on Tuesday. With a team certainly overhauled, the Blues are aiming for one last victory to achieve a flawless performance in Group B.

Barely arriving in Athens on Monday, the players of the French team discovered the charms of the Greek capital: its mild weather at the end of November, its narrow streets and… its traffic jams. On the eve of its match against Greece, Tuesday November 21, the French delegation was more than half an hour late for the press conference and training. “Sorry for the delay and the unforeseen circumstances.”Didier Deschamps apologized upon his arrival in the auditorium of the Agia Sofia stadium, usually occupied by AEK Athens.

One of the biggest challenges of the match for the Blues, Tuesday against the Greeks, will perhaps be arriving on time. Before their final match of the Euro 2024 qualifying campaign, France are already qualified for the competition and have assured seeding, while Greece are certain to finish 3rd in Group B. They will have to go through the play-offs in March to win his ticket to Germany.

“We have challenges that we set for ourselves.”, reassures Adrien Rabiot about the interest of the match. The tricolor environment evokes “small goals that we have in mind, which can help” to find motivation during such an appointment. Among them, the desire to achieve a flawless performance in these qualifications. The Tricolores’ homeric performances began in March against the Netherlands (4-0), continuing with six other victories. They have scored 27 goals and conceded only one in 7 matches.

Finish first in the Fifa ranking, the other objective

Obtaining an eighth success is in any case the objective stated by Deschamps: “It’s always good to have the best qualifying phase possible.” However, it is not a guarantee of dominating the competition that follows and the coach knows this better than anyone: Deschamps had participated in the perfect performance of the Blues during qualifying for Euro 1992, before failing in the first round. of the competition which took place in Sweden. Rebelote in 2004, with an elimination in the quarter-finals against… Greece.

Beyond the grand slam, with a potential eighth victory in eight matches, Rabiot has designated another objective. More anecdotal, this one: “We also know that if we win, we will finish the year first in the Fifa rankings, ahead of Argentina.“France overtook the Argentines by beating Gibraltar on Saturday (14-0) and a success against Greece would ensure they remain ahead of the reigning world champions. The Blues, who had briefly occupied this first place in 2018, did not most finished the year as leaders of the Fifa rankings since 2001.

So much for the apothecary accounts, which give interest to this meeting, like the team composition that Deschamps will field this evening. The coach is aware of this: this October-November period is feared by the players, because the risk of injury is higher. Eduardo Camavinga left a ligament in training at Clairefontaine at the start of the rally and will be absent for two months, while Warren Zaire-Emery was injured in the ankle against Gibraltar and will not play again in 2023.

Changes expected, Samba in the goals

Eight players among those who traveled to Hellenic soil will have a match to play on Friday, with AS Monaco, Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern Munich. Deschamps will have to manage his squad, as much as possible, for this match without stakes after being criticized a few weeks ago by Jürgen Klopp. The Liverpool coach had criticized the coach for not having given enough consideration to Ibrahima Konaté during the October rally, when the defender was returning from injury.

“If I take all the elements into account, I bring the technical staff into play.”, quipped Deschamps yesterday. The coach still plans to make changes for this match. At this time, only one certainty: Brice Samba will be in goal in place of Mike Maignan, for his second selection with the Blues. A significant turnover is expected for the rest of the team compared to the starting eleven lined up against Gibraltar.

The opportunity – and this is perhaps what will matter most this Tuesday for the players concerned – to show themselves, while Deschamps announced last week that all the next meetings will be used to refine his list for the Euro. In the middle, in the absence of Aurélien Tchouameni and Camavinga, the contenders must score points. At the right winger and center forward positions, competition is fierce. One more reason – if one was needed – for the players not to take this last international match of 2023 lightly.