Called up only twice to the France team since Euro 2021, the AC Milan striker is well on the list announced by the coach on Wednesday for the World Cup in Qatar.
You can be the reigning world champion, second top scorer in the history of the France team and essential in a club, but wait feverishly for the announcement of Didier Deschamps. This is what Olivier Giroud must have felt in front of his television set, Wednesday, November 9, before seeing his name appear in the list concocted by the coach for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar (November 20-December 18).
“I have a position in relation to Olivier (Giroud), he knows her. The situation has evolved, that’s why I think it’s better for the French team that he is with us.”explained Didier Deschamps on TF1 after the announcement of his list.
The selection of Olivier Giroud among the 25 players called up was indeed nothing automatic in the eyes of the coach. Since Euro 2021, during which he had spent only forty minutes in total on the lawn, his status has withered. After the elimination in the round of 16 by Switzerland (3-3, 5-4 on pens), the 36-year-old center-forward has only been called up twice in the blue jersey out of six possible rallies: in March and then in September 2022. The common point? Karim Benzema was injured.
“When a player has a status, and he has earned it, it’s very difficult to live with, if not impossible, to come back and have another status by being there, Didier Deschamps then justified at a press conference on March 21. have less playing time, psychologically, this has consequences for himself and the group.“
But each time he was called, the native of Chambéry responded perfectly. Still a starter, he scored three goals in four games to take his tally for Les Bleus to 49, just two lengths short of Thierry Henry’s record. In club too, Olivier Giroud has been very successful this season with in particular four goals in his last five meetings for AC Milan, including that of the victory off the bench, against La Spezia (2-1), last Saturday . “It’s been done for a long time, even when it was less good”assured Didier Deschamps, Wednesday.
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Because it is especially at the level of the state of mind that the winner of the Champions League 2021 with Chelsea convinced Didier Deschamps. “I haven’t changed in my head but there are things which, in the discussions I have with Olivier and the other players and the additional elements I have on and off the pitch, cause you to thinkexplained Didier Deschamps at a press conference on Wednesday. If I make that choice, it’s because I trust Olivier.” What Giroud confirmed, in September, on M6: “Even being on the bench, I always shot in the direction of the team. I never put the souk in a locker room.“
He also took advantage of a competition that did not know how to play its cards right and seize the opportunities. Wissam Ben Yedder and Moussa Diaby in the lead. The first has never been very effective off the bench (3 goals in 19 selections) while the second – less prominent than last season in the Bundesliga – had been disappointing during his two tenures in June, in the League nations (in Croatia and Austria).
Especially since Karim Benzema’s worrying state of form – 28 minutes of play in Real Madrid’s last five meetings – surely encourages the staff of the Blues to densify the bench. Since it is from the sidelines that Olivier Giroud should start the World Cup matches.
Except that, since the Euro, Didier Deschamps has never installed him in this status of substitute which he estimated that the Savoyard would have a hard time getting used to. A pebble in the shoe of the coach who preferred to call him only in the absence of Karim Benzema and could not, therefore, gauge the state of mind of the Milanese as a lining.
Olivier Giroud will therefore have to walk the talk by not polluting group life during the World Cup. The success of the French team in defending its title will partly depend on it.