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Smile, the young Blues are already ready to knock everything out

2022-12-19T12:17:01.033Z


The entries of Kolo Muani, Thuram and Fofana suggest a still bright future despite the defeat of the Blues in the World Cup final


  • Forced by events, Didier Deschamps sent young players to the front to (almost) achieve an unlikely comeback in the World Cup final.

  • The tricolor reservoir and the average age of the 26 tricolor players hint at a golden future despite a hard-to-digest defeat. 

From our Special Envoy in Doha,

It all started from there.

A double-change in the 40th, an all-in from Didier Deschamps as lost as his team, totally apathetic in the first period of his final against Argentina.

"I was not satisfied with what I saw," said the coach simply.

So he released Olivier Giroud and Ousmane Dembélé, just that, to make way for Marcus Thuram and Randal Kolo Muani.

The seeds of revolt germinated in the second half and were involved in Kylian Mbappé's first two goals.

A winning coaching in the form of a promise.

If a generation - that of Lloris and Giroud - is about to die out, another "led by Kylian", according to the captain, may have been born in Lusail.

Zoom on the five, six that we want to see settle permanently in Blues.

Randal Kolo Muani (24 years old - Eintracht Frankfurt)

Against Morocco, he only needed a minute to make his comeback profitable.

Against the Argentines, it was a little slower, if only because he joined a team of zombies.

But his activity and his audacity in taking the ball, capable of bringing him into great diagonal rides away from his area, ended up giving Tagliafico a headache, then Molina and Montiel.

Highlight of his evening, the penalty he will seek to offer Mbappé the reduction of the score.

And to think that Otamendi did not even take a yellow on this action.

After all that, how can you blame him for the missed match point face-to-face with Dibu Martinez?

The gesture is the right one, but opposite is Lev Yachine.

The Blues will recover, and we hope that Kolo Muani will return.



Marcus Thuram (25 years old - Borussia Monchengladbach)

We weren't always kind to him, probably because we expected more.

But it is clear that its entries, and especially that of Sunday, have put a coin in the Thuram jukebox.

Seeing him break his back with Mbappé made us nostalgic for the summer of 2016 when the two kids had brutalized Europe (with Jean-Kévin Augustin) to afford the Euro U19.

He missed a little trick on his ball grip to present himself alone against Martinez.

There is still work to be done, and its room for improvement does not seem infinite either.

Unless the World Cup served as a trigger?

Eduardo Camavinga (20 years old - Real Madrid)

Doudou is so good that he can help out on the left side by being less feverish than poor Jules Koundé on the other side (whose position is not also, it is true).

He certainly left spaces on the left, but at the cost of incursions into the opposing area.

And suddenly, we say to ourselves that we would like to see him a little more on the ground, and as long as we do at his post.

The former Rennais is still technically correct, lively and capable of eliminating, in short, a formidable joker, like at Real.

Still a bit greedy with the ball on some sequences, but youth has to happen.

Youssouf Fofana (23 years old - AS Monaco)

When he appears on Didier Deschamps' list in the fall, during meetings in the League of Nations already weighed down by absences, we say to ourselves that he will only be passing through.

A few photos from the Stade de France bench, stories at Clairefontaine and presto, it's off again on the rock never to return.

The thing is that with each appearance, the guy shows character.

Except during the hairdressers' match against Tunisia, but let's pretend it never existed.

In short, character, and no hesitation when it comes to trying big breakthroughs in the middle.

Old-school box-to-box projection, just the way we like them.

Aurélien Tchouaméni (20 years old - Real Madrid)

His strike from mid-range against England has everything to become a recurring classic in midfield, especially since by his own admission "it's something [he] works with Carlo Ancelotti".

Everything is not yet in place to make Paul Pogba forget about World Cup final level matches, but his multiple profile is already precious.

Remote playmaker, box to box, ball scraper, just ask, he'll do it.

Well, moreover.

Thanks to Real Madrid for continuing to improve him to make him an indestructible machine.

The Upamecano - Konaté hinge (24 years old and 23 years old, Bayern Munich and Liverpool)

The best for the end.

It is difficult to see Didier Deschamps - or the next coach - unbolt Varane, because he has the bottle and he needs a captain for this team which will soon lose Lloris.

But damn, those two back there, what are they sending.

Upamecano, whom we were starting to doubt at the highest level, at least with the Blues, was quite simply the best French defender in the World Cup.

And Ibrahima Konaté did at least as well when it came to replacing him against Morocco because of the mysterious virus that decimated the Blues.

If we add to this the fact that the two evolve in two major European clubs, there is something to dream about their margin of progress.

Sport

France - Argentina: Let's dry our tears, the Blues suffered the most beautiful defeat of all time

Sport

Final France - Argentina: "In the end, it's cruel" ... Didier Deschamps sounded after the defeat

  • Sport

  • World Cup 2022

  • France football team

  • Argentina

  • Soccer

Source: 20minf

All news articles on 2022-12-19

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