Didier Deschamps received the appointment to coach the French team a little more than a decade ago, in July 2012. His first game was a friendly match against Uruguay that ended goalless.
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France's team included names such as Mapo Yanga Ambiwa, Maxime Gonalon (brake and midfielder, both from Lyon), Rio Mabuba (back midfielder from Lille), Karim Benzema, Franck Ribery and two more: Hugo Lloris and Olivier Giroud (appearance number 10, only second in the team ), the two new acquisitions of the London teams, Arsenal and Tottenham.
Since then a lot of water has flowed in the Seine, the national team has undergone many changes, its squad of players has improved significantly, it has won the World Cup, the golden boy Kylian Mbappe, then 13 years old, has become the best player in the world, but the two who started in that forgotten and goalless friendly match are still significant players in the tricolor, which many She is considered one of the two favorites to lift the World Cup in nine days.
Deschamps won the World Cup in Russia with a very clear playing style.
Giving up the ball (apart from the game against Uruguay in the quarter-finals, France possessed the ball less than the opponent in all of its games), an orderly stance in the center of the field with almost no high pressure, but with an intense and strong link trio (Paul Pogba, Angolo Kante and Bliss Matwidi), and fast forward play after an interception A ball through the goal striker and on, to Antoine Griezmann and especially to Mbappe.
Giroud was perfect as a coach for this style.
Ego-free, very team-oriented, although not fast and not outstanding one-on-one, but with quality back play, movement in the area and great finishing ability.
one for all
In the years after the World Cup Deschamps tried to do things differently, also because of changes in the quality of the players and especially the return of Benzema.
The latter, who was absent from the World Cup due to non-professional reasons, returned to the squad after four years, when he is in the best period of his career at Real Madrid, which resulted in his selection as player of the year.
Deschamps.
Knows what he's doing, photo: Reuters
The combination of Benzema with Mbappe and Griezmann was supposed to make France a team that was almost impossible to stand against, because in the general perception there was a feeling that Giroud, who finished the 2018 World Cup without goals, was the weak link.
But reality proved otherwise.
It's not that Benzema wasn't good, on the contrary - he played great in the Euros and was the team's top scorer, but his presence and the change in formation that followed made Mbappe take on less responsibility and the team looked less good.
In evidence, a very disappointing tournament with only one win and subsequent relegation in the Nations League, including two losses to Denmark.
Benzema's return of course came at the expense of Giroud, who last played only 40 minutes.
He also came to the current World Cup as a third striker, but then came the injuries of Benzema and Christopher Ankonko, and Deschamps had to return to the base that brought him to victory, and especially to the striker who was there all along and played first of all for the coach and his partners in attack.
In the game against England, Giroud will again be in focus, as the target player who will receive the balls after steals and release the wings for transitions.
He will make the perfect move to cut short the crosses of Theo Hernandez and Ousmane Dembele, and above all he will be the one to shrink the defense and enable the one-on-one isolations of the best player in the tournament and probably the best player in the world today, Mbappe - and this to lead France to the semi-finals.
Winner ratio for England's victory 2.90, for a draw 3.20 and for France's victory 2.30
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