Why does France not deserve Didier Deschamps | EUROtoday

On Mar 24, 2025

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IThere is a standing in Japan that ought to be assigned to Didier Deschamps: that of “living monument”. A uncommon distinction, nearly sacred, reserved for many who embody or protect distinctive know-how. In the historical past of soccer, and extra broadly French sport, Deschamps is considered one of them. Captain of a golden era in 1998, architect of a brand new coronation in 2018, he’s the guardian of an intangible heritage: that of excellence. And but, even when this title was formally awarded to him, it might in all probability not be sufficient to protect it from the other winds. Those of the age -old criticism, hasty judgments and too quick reminiscences.

Lesson no 1: by no means doubt Deschamps

Sunday night, throughout this unimaginable qualification within the semi-final of the League of Nations towards Croatia, Deschamps has as soon as once more demonstrated that it was by no means to doubt of him. After a 2-0 defeat on the outward journey, the Blues overthrew the scenario with an nearly insolent mastery, earlier than profitable on the finish of an insufferable penalties session (5-4). A efficiency which, as usually, carries the mark of its pragmatism and its aptitude.

The underperformance of the primary leg on Thursday night was sufficient to relaunch requires his early departure. But Didier Deschamps is used to it. Despite a listing that will make any coach fade with envy, there stays the common goal of a preferred courtroom fast to overlook, with every misstep of the Blues, the extent of his work.

As if two stars on the tricolor jersey and a elegant odyssey in 2022, the place the third star escaped him with a breath, weren’t sufficient to shut the debates. As if bringing the French crew to a few main finals in six years (Euro 2016, 2018 World Cup, 2022 World Cup) was in any banality.

Unusual resilience

But Deschamps, it isn’t only a document. It can also be an uncommon response capability, a resilience that ought to encourage far past soccer fields. How many occasions have we introduced the “end” of “the Dèche”? How many occasions has it been described as an outdated, nearly anachronistic type coach? And but, he’s nonetheless there, defying the forecasts and thwarting criticism.

Remember the return match towards Ukraine in 2013, the place the Blues, again to the wall, spilled the steam in an electrical environment on the Stade de France. From this 2014 quarter -final, in Rio, the place a French crew nonetheless in reconstruction stood as much as Germany, future world champion, earlier than narrowly giving in on a whim from Mats Hummels. And from this ultimate of Euro 2016, the place a easy put up was sufficient to interrupt the dream of a coronation at house towards Portugal of a Cristiano Ronaldo injured however triumphant.

Read too Monday tackle-2022 World Cup: France-Argentina, the match of the centuryWhat can we additionally say in regards to the 2018 World Cup, led by a grasp’s hand by Didier Deschamps? With this asymmetrical 4-4-2 that nobody had seen coming, a system as daring as it’s efficient, he introduced France to the highest of world soccer. Finally, let’s not overlook the epic of the 2022 World Cup: disadvantaged of a litany of important executives like Pogba, Kanté, Benzema or Maignan, Deschamps took his crew to an anthology ultimate towards Argentina. Ah, this rattling Kolo Muani strike…

It is alleged to be tactically restricted

We at all times overlook the epics that forge legends too shortly. The proof: his detractors sweep his outcomes and blame him for his pragmatism, his style for self-discipline and his effectiveness erected as an absolute goal. But that is exactly the place his power resides. Didier Deschamps was in a position to orchestrate the transition between a number of generations of gamers, integrating skills like Kylian Mbappé, Aurélien Tchouameni and at this time desired, whereas sustaining a stability with skilled frames like Hugo Lloris and Antoine Griezmann. He remodeled a crew right into a disaster, marked by the Domenech period and Knysna’s trauma right into a profitable machine, based mostly on selflessness and rigor.

And but, with every defeat, the identical criticisms reappear, like a striped disc. He is accused of not being flamboyant sufficient, of not “daring”. Salon editorialists, heat of their certainties, even think about him restricted tactically. But who, if not Deschamps, had the audacity to repair Blaise Matuidi in an surprising and decisive position of false left winger through the 2018 World Cup? Who, if not him, had the sensible instinct to reposition Antoine Griezmann in a relay setting superior 4 years later, through the World Cup in Qatar?

Why this collective amnesia?

So why this relentlessness? Why this collective amnesia? Pier Paolo Pasolini, the immense poet and filmmaker, mentioned that “football is the last sacred representation of our time”. A contemporary liturgy, the place footballers are each clergymen and idols. But our time, so fast to erect statues, is simply as fast to unbolt them. The requirement we’ve for these males in crampons is commensurate with the disproportionate affection that we supply them. They are our heroes, but additionally our scapegoats. And amongst them, Didier Deschamps, crystallizes the passions of 60 million individuals who improvise selectors.

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Answer

Deschamps is the one who wins with out brilliance. In an period obsessive about storytelling and the style of the spectacle, it embodies a counterattack: that of uncooked effectivity, pragmatism with out frills. Albert Camus, himself in love with the spherical ball, wrote: “What I learn about morality is in soccer that I owe it. Deschamps, by its humility and its loyalty to the collective, reminds us that soccer, like life, just isn’t a quest for aesthetic perfection, however a everlasting wrestle. He is the guardian of an nearly archaic knowledge, the one who prefers acts to phrases. In a world saturated with noise, it values invisible efforts.

And as usually, it is going to be mandatory to attend for his mandate to fade after the 2026 World Cup to grasp what he completed. Because it’s thus: males like Deschamps are by no means appreciated at their honest worth so long as they’re in workplace. They embody benchmarks, however benchmarks that we solely acknowledge as soon as they’ve disappeared.

https://www.lepoint.fr/sport/pourquoi-la-france-ne-merite-pas-didier-deschamps-24-03-2025-2585475_26.php