From our special envoy in Doha
Thursday evening, from the press box of the El Saad stadium where the French team trained for the first time since their arrival in Qatar, we did not hesitate to slash the Champomy (alcohol ban obliges) in seeing Karim Benzema exchanging a few passes with his teammates. Before quickly becoming disillusioned and putting it all away in the cold, noting that he finally left the group to do individual work with Raphaël Varane and physical trainer Cyril Moine.
For his part, Deschamps, who had warned before the announcement of the list that he would only take players sure of being able to play this first meeting, still stubbornly maintained last Monday at Clairefontaine that there would be no no problem from that point of view. “He had minor physical problems to manage, and compared to what the World Cup represents, he is vigilant, very vigilant. But I don’t have any worries about next week, I don’t have any negative elements about his physical situation. »
Questioned at the castle by our colleagues from The Teamthe player himself wanted to be reassuring. ” I’m fine. I had small pains, but no tears or major injuries. I could play [avec le Real contre Cadix, deux jours avant le rassemblement] but not 100%. It wasn’t about taking or not taking risks, it’s just that I wasn’t 100%. I just had little discomfort. Since then, I have worked well in the gym. I ran, I lay down, so it’s fine. »
So everything is going very well, Madame la Marquise. Except that five days before the first match against Australia, our People’s Golden Ball has not yet completed any collective session with the rest of the group. We didn’t do medicine, but we can still tell you that this case smells more and more of Landes pine. And to tell you that Benzema will never be able to play Tuesday’s match in its entirety AND in full possession of his means.
Thuram’s summons raises questions
And then if everything is going so well, why did the coach call Marcus Thuram as reinforcements on Monday and not a week earlier like for the rest of the group? DD explained to us that he wanted to wait for the official end of the championships to get an idea of the identity of the player to call, adding that he could just as well have taken “a defender, a midfielder or an attacker” , we do not buy. And we’re not the only ones.
“Didier can well say that the summoning of Marcus Thuram has nothing to do with the state of form of Benzema, well… At that time, why did not he call him when he gave the list, if it has nothing to do?, asks a connoisseur of the coach and the France team. To my knowledge, there are no new elements between the announcement of the list and Thuram’s call. What can motivate the call for an additional striker if not doubts about Benzema? It’s elementary school level. »
According to our colleagues from The Team, present with us during the training of the Blues on Thursday evening, the intensity put by Benzema in the exercises reassured the staff, but the program dreamed up by Deschamps was not respected, a sign that the fears are very real. And if the player’s fitness were to drag on, if the situation were to get bogged down, could that have a negative impact on the life of the group? Possibly, if we rely on the history of the Blues in the 21st century. Remember:
- If he was not yet responsible for the communication of the Blues during Euro 2008 (he will only become one the day after elimination), François Manardo knows the underside of the Vieira affair as if he had done. “Patrick’s case is different from that of Benzema or Zidane, who at least played in the last group match in Korea. In 2008, from the start we knew that it was dead for Pat’ and that he couldn’t compete. Paclet (the doctor of the Blues at the time) says it, “we don’t have time, he is out”. But Raymond (Domenech) decides to keep him anyway, without telling him that he has no chance of playing. And behind it is a whole gear that is set up. »
- Euro 2008: Patrick Veira suffered a muscle injury with bleeding in his left thigh during the preparation match against Paraguay (0-0) on May 30, he will not play a single match in the competition.
“It can quickly become heavy for the group”
If each story is different and the injuries are not of the same nature or the same intensity, it is nonetheless very instructive. Press chief for the France team in Korea, Philippe Tournon does not rule out a remake of the media bazaar of the time with Karim Benzema. “He did not train with the group at Clairefontaine. If he does not participate in Thursday’s collective training in Doha, he told us on Tuesday, you journalists will do your job and you will multiply the question marks. It’s normal. And there, as was the case for us with Zidane in 2002, it can quickly become heavy for the group and it can be difficult to manage. »
A few years after the Seoul fiasco, Roger Lemerre confessed in the columns of The Team “ a big mistake of [sa] go “. “When you pick the top 22 players, you can’t focus attention on just one who isn’t fit to play. Because the others have the same ego. I then said to myself: Roger, your group is dead”.
If he was not yet responsible for the communication of the Blues during Euro 2008 (he will only become one the day after elimination), François Manardo knows the underside of the Vieira affair as if he had done. “Patrick’s case is different from that of Benzema or Zidane, who at least played in the last group match in Korea. In 2008, from the start we knew that it was dead for Pat’ and that he couldn’t compete. Paclet (the doctor of the Blues at the time) says it, “we don’t have time, he is out”. But Raymond (Domenech) decides to keep him anyway, without telling him that he has no chance of playing. And behind it is a whole gear that is set up. »
Didier is not Raymond
On the advice of Willy Sagnol, then a defender in Munich, Vieira contacted Bayern doctor Hans-Wihelm Müller-Wohlfahrt, who recommended that he inject himself with Actovégin, a decried remedy based on protein-free calf blood. The medical staff of the Blues refuses. François Manardo deciphers: “Pat’ put pressure on us to treat him, Paclet refuses to do the treatment because it’s forbidden in France, it’s going up in the towers and when you get into this kind of situation, you know that behind it’s over. But I can’t believe for a second that we are at the start of a similar scenario with Benzema. If Deschamps took it, it’s because he sincerely thinks he can play. But for Australia, it is sure that it will never be 100%. »
This is also the opinion of Luis Fernandez, consultant for beIN Sport. “He has a small problem but the staff seem to think that we can treat it. If he is there, it is because he feels capable of it. And at worst we have enough to replace him for the first games so that he can best prepare for the round of 16, ”he says, (too?) serene. “Serene” is also the attitude of Benzema, according to his teammate in the selection and in the club, Aurélien Tchouaméni, who was interviewed Thursday at a press conference. “He has a lot of experience, he knows his body, if he hasn’t played the last games with Real it’s because he didn’t consider himself capable of helping the team as much as possible, but he knows very well that it will be fine and that when he is ready he will be able to help the team, ”he assured us. All you have to do is believe it.