White smoke at DD – Franck Fife / AP / SIPA
Rarely has a list of Didier Deschamps been so vampirized by a single man. Whether at the TF1-M6 newscast or at the premises of the French Football Federation, there were only eyes for the return of Karim Benzema. So much so that when our colleagues had the audacity to take an interest in other players on the list of 26, they almost apologized.
To give you an idea of the madness, realize that the names of Kylian Mbappé or Antoine Griezmann were barely heard on Tuesday nights. It’s just if we did not take a nosedive during the interview with the Parisian broadcast by the front page just after the announcement of DD. But contrary to appearances, KBNueve is not going to face the Europe of football alone. He will have 25 players with him, and not the least. From now on the first one who talks about Benzema has lost.
15 world champions in the list
We do not change a winning team, well not the masses. 15 of the 23 world champions will be on the European tour. Apart from Adil Rami and Blaise Matuidi, in exile in clubs too far from the standards of the France team, as well as Benjamin Mendy, reconverted community manager of Manchester City, there are therefore five disappointed: Florian Thauvin, Alphonse Areola, Djibril Sidibé, Nabil Fekir and Steven Nzonzi. Thought for these five heroes of the Russian campaign.
Jules Koundé, finally
But winning a star does not buy your place in the sun, at least not in a country where a new crack grows every 36 seconds. The latest hype? Jules Koundé. The defender of Sevilla FC made his appearance in Blue at the last minute after missing the last gathering of the France team. An absence of facade, as revealed by DD. “Jules could have been with us in March, but I left the priority option to Sylvain Ripoll with the hopes [pour la phase de poules de l’Euro U21]. “On the eve of the Euro the A once again have priority, and Ripoll will have to do without the Sevillian, appreciated by the French staff for his versatility. “He is coming out of a very good season at Sevilla FC, and can play axial and right-back. He will be perfect in the role of the preventer to sleep on his laurels with the titular defenders.
The wounded are not housed in the same boat
Small subtlety of the regulations that Deschamps does well to recall. The list of 26 delivered Tuesday evening is by no means official. He has until June 1 to send it to UEFA. Convenient, especially in case of last minute injuries that you do not wish on anyone but should always be considered. Especially when we know the health of some mobilized players rather fragile, like Thomas Lemar recently injured in the left thigh. The Colchonero have just returned to training and are still uncertain for their last game of the season with Atlético. Corentin Tolisso comes back to him even further. Barely recovered from a quadriceps injury, the Bavarian only had to play one game to make the list. What to enrage Tanguy Ndombele, direct victim of this return in extremis.
But not all of the injured suffered the same happy fate. Author of a very solid season at Real, Ferland Mendy can curse this cowardly shin who resigned at the worst possible time. Too fair too, Anthony Martial has just finished with a long recovery following a knee injury contracted in March. There again, there is something to be enraged, especially when you have an international career as disjointed as that of the former Monegasque. “Anthony Martial would have been there, but he is not available, he has physical problems like other players,” admitted DD. A very small consolation.
Attackers, a lot
Toto Martial would surely have found his account to frolic in the gigantic attacking enclosure made by his coach at the Blues, who did not fail to proclaim loud and clear his love for offensive players, even if it meant forcing the joke a little. It’s a bit easy to like attackers when you only have caviar available, but let us recognize that Didier play the offensive game thoroughly by carrying eight attackers in his suitcases. “I know only too well that this is where we will make the difference. “
Conversely, we will be worried about the meager contribution to the environment (six, and one of them is Sissoko), which is a little contradictory with the idea of producing the game, even if this task probably falls to Antoine Griezmann and Karim Benzema, whom we had forbidden to talk about. This is crazy. To believe that all roads lead to KB9.