France is at a standstill and ignores until when. The Blues, them, already have an idea. On Tuesday 17 March, the UEFA leaders took the decision – expected – to postpone the European Nations Championship by one year, scheduled from 12 June to 12 July and postponed from 11 June to 11 July 2021.
In Group F, the French team had to face Germany, Portugal and a selection from a final jump-off. If the menu does not vary, this setback has consequences on the preparation and the choice of men for the coach, Didier Deschamps, who refused to " project oneself " on such a possibility on March 3 during the draw for the League of Nations.
Today, the coronavirus imposes its calendar. The Blues played their last match on November 17 (2-0 victory in Albania) and may not be found until September 5 in Sweden for the start of the League of Nations. The French coach reacted on Tuesday, saying:
"It is a wise decision, given the devastation that the Covid-19 is causing all over the planet. The only game to win is the one we are playing against coronavirus. "
The 2018 world champions are not alone in this case of course, but they will juggle preparation for the Euro and make a good start in the 2022 World Cup qualifiers, which begin in March.
Worried executives
The question is anecdotal in the current context, but it will arise in June 2021 when the coronavirus may no longer vampirize all the news: is this postponement good for the France team?
In an interview at World on December 17, Didier Deschamps defended his team's record over the past year: “2019 will remain as a good year in terms of results. We still won nine of our eleven games. "
Beyond the eternal debate over his team's style of play, the manager's accounting rationale is unstoppable. Still, the sky of the Blues is dotted with a few cumulus clouds. The form, health or morale of some of its players are questioning.
In his misfortune, striker Ousmane Dembélé – who was forfeited to the Euro due to a serious thigh injury – must think that this postponement offers him an unexpected chance to find the France group in time.
Apart from the case of the Barcelonans, it was the injuries to the body or the soul of certain executives that worried at the start of the year. Paul Pogba has played 72 unfortunate minutes since September and is scheduled to return to training … Tuesday with Manchester United. As part of the world title, the midfielder risked starting the Euro with a cruel lack of competition.
His midfielder, the tireless N’Golo Kanté, has also chained physical glitches with Chelsea, perhaps overtaken by what ordinary people call fatigue.
Seriously injured in the elbow in October, goalkeeper Hugo Lloris is still far from his best level at Tottenham. Antoine Griezmann never gets injured, but the master of the Blues badly hides his spleen since his transfer to FC Barcelona, where Lionel Messi still considers him a foreign body in his team.
When The world questioned Didier Deschamps on these various blue evils, the coach pleaded for the ordinary of a season with his ups and downs. “Yes, all of that can happen, between injuries, bad shape or change of club. At the World Cup in Russia, 13 of the 23 had never participated in a major international competition. At the Euro, it will not be the same as at the World Cup ", he warned.
Calls of the last hour in 1998 and 2018
And it is likely that his list for 2021 will be different from that already drafted, in the back of his mind, for June. On a sporting scale, a year is already a long time. At 33, for example, the passing days are not the best friends of an Olivier Giroud weakened by his replacement status at Chelsea.
Adrien Rabiot may find time to reconnect with his coach and even push the inescapable Blaise Matuidi (his Juventus teammate) to the exit.
In football, some players are quickly struck by decline when other barely emerging talents can become obvious. Just take a look in the book of great victories of the Blues.
During the Tournoi de France in June 1997, Ibrahim Ba was an indisputable holder of an Aimé Jacquet who wondered who, from Florian Maurice or Patrice Loko, would be his center. A late 1998 summer, the three players watched Thierry Henry and David Trezeguet, barely of age, raise the Jules-Rimet trophy in front of their TV.
Didier Deschamps knows the importance of the last hour. In 1998, he was associated with the midfielder Emmanuel Petit income in grace just before the World Cup. Twenty years later, the coach won his campaign in Russia with Benjamin Pavard and Lucas Hernandez on the sides of his defense. A year before, however, no one would have bet on the first (axial defender in German Division 2, in Frankfurt), or on the second – who swore to want to play for Spain.
By June, hopes like Dayot Upamecano, Colin Dagba, Eduardo Camavinga or Houssem Aouar may come to upset the hierarchy in place, but not frozen, among the Blues. The kind of discussion that also enlivens the daily life of a country of 66 million breeders when they don't have to fight a deadly and invisible enemy.
