The French team is far from having shown its best face by losing (0-2) against Germany on Saturday, but this is not a first under the Deschamps era before a major competition.
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“It’s a reminder, a little slap too.“Aurélien Tchouaméni does not hide it, the defeat on Saturday against Germany is a disappointment which Didier Deschamps would have “fine” as the coach readily admitted. In Lyon, the 0-2 setback surprised as much as disappointed three months before the European Championship which the Blues will enter among the favorites. In the game as in the attitudes, the French team missed out. Enough to change the signals to orange, or even red, so close to a major competition? The previous years of the Deschamps era tend to put the importance of these missteps into perspective.
If it is of course impossible to guess as to the performance of the Tricolores next summer, this odd situation is not a first with the former 1998 world champion on the bench. And it is not synonymous with a bad omen for the rest of the adventures of the Blues. “I had the chance to play several competitions, and before many of them, we took some slaps. And in the end, we had a great competition, confirmed Kylian Mbappé at a press conference on Monday March 25 in Marseille. And on others we had won all our friendly matches and we returned home quite quickly. Friendly matches give indications, but not real solutions. It’s a warning, but there have been quite a few lessons learned.”
Precedents without follow-up
During the three penultimate gatherings, generally at least in March or exceptionally in June in 2022 with the World Cup played in winter, France has never had its fill of victories and confidence. In 2018, Colombia won at the Stade de France 3-2 after a second period that was badly missed by the Blues. Three years later, in a particular context for the first post-interruption match due to Covid, they could not do better than a draw against Ukraine, again at home.
Since Didier Deschamps has been on the bench, the Blues have only won 6 matches during their penultimate meeting, for 3 draws and 4 defeats. A record well below their standards since the arrival of the coach who counts, in all competitions, 97 victories, 27 draws, 26 defeats.
Worse, in 2022, in their quest for a world double, they frankly worried by not winning any of their four Nations League matches, losing in particular against Denmark or Croatia. Didier Deschamps was then in the midst of relaunching his group after the failure of Euro 2021, marked by Karim Benzema’s attempted comeback and an organizational change that was anything but saving.
The quality of the German team, under reconstruction but very talented, and some absences by choice or constraints (like the withdrawal of Antoine Griezmann) are all “mitigating” circumstances for this logical defeat. The French players also appeared disappointed, but not dejected. “No, I’m not worried, are you?retorted Aurélien Tchouaméni. We have confidence in ourselves, we will review what went wrong. Above all, we know that if we do this again during the Euro, it won’t work.“
“It’s better that it happens tonight. It was an important match, but not essential. We could have done a lot better. It was a test to gauge ourselves, it will help us keep our feet on the ground.”
Adrien Rabiot, midfielder of the French teamon TF1 Saturday March 23
This is because Deschamps and his flock have seen others. Firstly because they can get back on track this Tuesday against Chile in Marseille. Then because the Blues have even already survived a hiccup even closer to a big meeting. Let us cite the tasteless draw against the United States (1-1) one week before the start of the 2018 World Cup, the one with the same score against Paraguay 15 days before the first day of the 2014 World Cup, or the defeat against Denmark two months away from the last World Cup…
So many poor performances remained completely anecdotal before the first hopes in 2014, then two World Cup finals in a row, the second star as a bonus in 2018. “If it takes a slap to make things go well afterwards…“, the national coach philosophized on Saturday.
In March before the 2014 World Cup:
Victory against the Netherlands 2-0
In March before Euro 2016:
Victory against the Netherlands 3-2
Victory against Russia 4-2
In March before the 2018 World Cup:
Defeat against Colombia 2-3
Victory in Russia 1-3
In March before Euro 2020 (postponed to 2021 due to Covid-19):
Draw against Ukraine 1-1
Victory in Kazakhstan 2-0
Victory in Bosnia 1-0
In June before the 2022 World Cup (played in December, shifting the international periods):
Defeat against Denmark 1-2
Croatia draw 1-1
Austria draw 1-1
Defeat against Croatia 0-1