Have the Blues definitively forgot the defensive dogma resulting from the 1998 worldwide success? With four offensive players of great talent, they have, in any case, what to frighten any opponent.
by Anthony Hernandez (Doha, Special Envoy)
They are not there yet, but if the Blues version 2022 embroiders a third star above the rooster on December 18 after a victory in the final, they will have to largely owe it to their offensive power. For a French football which was built on the founding dogma of defensive solidity during its first success in the World Cup, in 1998 – and, as opposed, on that of the magnificent losers full of panache of 1982 and 1986 -, evolution would be revolutionary.
Sunday December 4, in the round of 16 against Poland, the French team should bet more on the goals and inspirations of Kylian Mbappé or Antoine Griezmann to beat the very good goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny than on the rigor of his defense to neutralize the star scorer Robert Lewandowski. The strength of this team, “It’s his palette of offensive players. They are all different from each other, and it gives lots of options to the coach. We ask ourselves more questions about the defense and the middle of Land “, Analysis, for AFP, Youri Djorkaeff, one of the few offensive players lined up at the 1998 World Cup.
Didier Deschamps is aware of this. When he does not send his replacements to take the air as against Tunisia, the coach has a rare striking force, attest to the four goals scored against Australia, two against the Danes. “The opponent knows that there is danger on the left, in the axis, and on the right,” says the one who can count on the accelerations of Mbappé, the science of Griezmann’s game, the realism of Olivier Giroud and The confusing dribbles of Ousmane Dembélé.
You just have to hear Deschamps, cantor of balance, evoke Barcelona Dembélé – last arrived in his eleven type – like the one “responsible for bringing chaos”. A joyful brothel promised to the opposing defenses that “DD” has never tasted in hers. In 1998, under the leadership of Aimé Jacquet, the victory of the Blues was built on an almost insurmountable wall, with two goals conceded in seven games. Without going as far as the excesses of a catenaccio outdated in the late 1990s, tauliers like Marcel Desailly, Lilian Thuram or Didier Deschamps in person were impregnated with this Italian defensive culture, after years spent in Serie A.
Accept and assume the imbalance
Twenty years later, Deschamps has gone from the role of captain to that of coach when his Blues arrive in Russia with the desire to attack. As this comment from a certain Laurent Blanc, world champion converted into a coach illustrates: “In 1998, we built our victory over our defense, but it is not the only way to win. If the Blues are Take two goals per game, but they score three, we will all be happy too. “
But if Mbappé, 19 at the time, and Griezmann are already present and decisive, it is once again by building a defensive balance – found during tournament – that the Blues drop out again Grail. With the exception of the round of 16 in the unbridled scenario against the Argentines (4-3), the French team disgusted Uruguay and Belgium during the next two rounds, without collecting a goal. From a Imperial Raphaël Varane behind to Olivier Giroud Blower but first defender, passing by a Samuel Umtiti ready to sacrifice a knee for the fatherland and a Paul Pogba with unprecedented rigor, the French are then on a mission to protect the Goals by Hugo Lloris.
In Qatar, they started their tournament with a line of four defenders (as in Russia), but Deschamps added – and maintained – an offensive player in addition. This apparently detail changes all the philosophy of the team and gives it its more daring nature. “Sometimes having imbalances, it also allows us to be more dangerous, more sharp offensively. When we lose on one side, we win on the other,” observes Raphaël Varane.
In football, you just have to score a goal more than the opponent, but conceded too much has never been the most direct path to global glory. “The base is not as solid as in 2018, but Deschamps’ experience will be very important,” predicts Djorkaeff. Despite all the talent of Mbappé, Griezmann and Giroud, French football counts once again on his “father the victory” to find the right balance in this assumed imbalance.