The fire had gradually subsided, after the victory against Austria last Thursday (2-0), but the defeat against Denmark on Sunday September 25 (0-2), rekindled the still hot embers. The home team of France continues to burn, after the bad rally in June and a mediocre League of Nations (only one victory), and this two months before the World Cup (November 20-December 18). So, the players of the France team played firefighters in Copenhagen. “Don’t darken the picture“, launched Olivier Giroud after the defeat in Denmark, while specifying that “not everything is to be thrown away“.
The Blues are preparing to challenge their world title in Doha, but will have to find on the job – lack of preparation requires – solutions to optimize the system with three defenders. Abandoned for three games in June, at the request of players exhausted at the end of the season, this tactical disposition is what Didier Deschamps wants to see during the World Cup. The coach saw signs of improvement against Austria.
Led by a great Raphaël Varane, the defense held up. Not against Denmark. If it burns after the matches, the blue building often takes on water during, when their opponents press where it hurts: between the central defenders and the pistons. Offensively, the latter will have to bring more, while the attacking trio will have to find the magic which had offered the Blues the League of Nations in the fall of 2021.
This system will not fill its gaps with a magic wand at the World Cup, but the coach has especially underlined the wanderings of his players to explain the defeat. “When there are not the ingredients that we put against Austria, the system doesn’t matter. We failed in the duels and we made technical errors on the raises“said the coach.
In other words, if the Blues put more of their own into it, this type of performance has no reason to happen again. Especially since the French team had an average age of 25 against the Danes, with several novices at international level: Benoît Badiashile (21), William Saliba (21), Dayot Upamecano (23), Eduardo Camavinga (19), and to a lesser extent Aurélien Tchouaméni (22).
3 – France have lost 3 competitive matches in 2022 (3 times in the Nations League), this is already their worst total in a calendar year (tied with 1966, 1981, 2008 and 2010). Pessimism. #DANFRA pic.twitter.com/sA2vmqaWza
— OptaJean (@OptaJean) September 25, 2022
Camavinga, released at half-time, thus experienced a difficult evening in a white-hot Parken Stadium in Copenhagen: “It will be useful for him for the future as it will be useful for others“, launched Deschamps, probably to the attention of some who will not be part of the list for the World Cup. For the others, it was a “wakeup call“, according to the coach.
“It does us good before the World Cup. I’m not worried, we have the group and the coach to aim very high“, assured Antoine Griezmann for his part. Especially since the Blues will find at the World Cup all or part of the many absentees from this gathering, in particular Hugo Lloris, Lucas and Theo Hernandez, Presnel Kimpembe, N’Golo Kanté or even Karim Benzema.
“The important thing is to be able to recover all our strength for in two months“, recalled Deschamps. Despite the defeat on Sunday, already the third in official competition in this year 2022, the Blues therefore wish to keep reason. They certainly remember the criticisms that already surrounded the France team before starting the World Cup 2018. With the sequel that we know.
Before talking about the real collapse of the world champions, it will be necessary to see them fail in their great quest for the end of the year, in Qatar. And for that, wait for their entry into the competition, on November 22 against Australia.