From our Special Envoy in Doha,
We can always say that it was only Australia in front, nevertheless, it had been 64 years, and a 7-3 victory for the band at Fontaine and Kopa against Paraguay, that the French team did not hadn’t scored so many goals at the start of a World Cup. If we add to these the two pawns of Saturday against a solid Danish team, the Blues have already scored six goals since the start of the competition. For comparison, four years ago in Russia, they totaled only three at the end of the group stage. Second best attack of this World Cup behind Spain (7 goals in a single match) and tied with England, it’s nothing to say that the Blues are (and we) are enjoying themselves in the last twenty meters.
But let’s stop this litany of numbers there to focus on what they translate beyond the abacus. Already, they tell a first important thing, namely that we wallowed like bruises believing to read in Deschamps’ list the beginnings of a return to a pathological nervousness. Admittedly, he armed himself in defense and in the middle as if he were going to war against the Mongolian army of Genghis Khan, but on arrival the result is totally different. “It’s not because we pile up the attackers that we will necessarily score more goals”, he repeated to us in substance when we were surprised at the structure of his group before leaving for Qatar. We couldn’t listen to him.
He was right and we were wrong (and that’s fine)
Worse, we didn’t want to listen to it, sitting too much on our certainties as sofa selectors. And yet… It’s because in his head at the DD, everything was perfectly clear. He had already established his battle plan with, at the top of the bill, this secret boot named Griezmann in the middle of the torchbearer. By choosing to bring the Colchonero down a notch in a 4-3-3 not-miracle-but-not-far to make room for Ousmane Dembélé, on fire since the start of the World Cup, the coach has set up a team severely equipped from an offensive point of view.
We counted no less than 19 (!) hot situations on the goals of Kasper Schmeichel on Saturday night, for a total of 21 shots. “It’s a rather accomplished match, welcomed La Dèche in a post-match press conference. In the first half we had no offensive success but we left nothing to the Danes. We had a lot of chances in the second half, even if we took this goal from a set piece. Each time we had the opportunity to attack, there were sequences. I’m very proud of what the players have done. »
Faced with Danes reputed to be unwelcoming in their area, the tricolors gave off a real impression of power, even suffocation for the opposing defenders, thanks in particular to a twirling Dembouz who reminds us with chills of his great Dortmund years. If Giroud was less prominent than against Australia, we can trust Mbappé to finish the job in front of goal. And when Dembélé sticks out his tongue a little, as was also the case at the end of the match against the Socceroos, who comes in? Oh, three times nothing, just Kingsley Coman, striker of the great Bayern Munich. So this is what we call the multiverse?
A mind cut to go far
This impression of strength was also felt on the mental level, whether against Australia to come back after conceding the first goal and losing Lucas Hernandez to injury, or in Denmark, who remained on two (recent) victories of rank against the Blues. “We had the knife between our teeth”, conceded, revengeful, Aurélien Tchouaméni after the match.
“We managed to put into practice what we had said in the locker room, namely this rage to win, this group state of mind, this way of being solid all together, welcomed his side the returning Raphaël Varane. Then we know that we have quality players up front who can make a difference at any time. We conceded very few chances and we created quite a few, that’s good, we will be able to rely on this kind of victory for the rest of the competition. »
Beyond this strike force which has little equal among the competition, with the exception (perhaps) of Brazil, England or Spain, the future will tell us, the France team advances draped in a humility that says a lot about its state of mind and so little about its great ambitions. “We are not going to show off and put the rooster higher than it is”, reminded The fields on the eve of the match against the Danes. You, no, but us? It doesn’t eat bread after all.