For this second and final meeting of this international break, the French team welcomed, on the meadow of the Pierre-Mauroy enclosure in Lille, Scotland, which has also locked its qualification ticket for Euro 2024 which will take place in Germany from June 14 to July 14, 2024, being assured of finishing in the first two places in Group A with Spain. This friendly match therefore served as a perfect test for both teams, in order to refine and experiment with new things, by rotating their group a little. And Didier Deschamps made some changes to his 4-3-3 system, notably with the tenure of Eduardo Camavinga, Benjamin Pavard and Ousmane Dembélé. Behind these decisions lies a real desire to create competition for taking notes less than a year before major deadlines.
In fact, there will only be 23 internationals to fly to the nine German cities hosting the competition (Berlin, Leipzig, Munich, Stuttgart, Cologne, Dortmund, Hamburg, Gelsenkirchen and Frankfurt). The battle is being fought for expensive places: “The match gave us convictions. Apart from this first quarter of an hour where we were apathetic with a mistake which led to the goal, their only opportunity that they had in the first half, thereafter, we did good things by putting the ingredients together with the offensive quality too, not necessarily with the same team but it’s good for the group that was there by distributing the playing time. The ability to score goals, we often score, here we scored four so it ‘is very good”then declared the French coach, Didier Deschamps at the microphone of TF1. But as is very often the case with the 1998 World Champion since he has been at the head of the Blues, the competition does not seem to disturb the cohesion of the group and even seems to strengthen the collective.
Hierarchy at the heart of success
He is the great hero of the evening, the main protagonist of the match film. Aligned in the central hinge alongside Ibrahima Konaté, Inter Milan defender Benjamin Pavard scored a double header this Tuesday evening against Scotland. Returning to his favorite position after numerous indirect criticisms on his complicated use at the right-back position, Pavard did not show frustration or anything else after the match – quite the contrary: “Frankly there is great competition, there are a lot of very great players in this position but we are pushing ourselves to the top. We saw the matches before, they were huge. Today, we were also huge so that’s good, it’s healthy competition in any case. So we will continue to move forward and work as a club to hopefully return to the selection”he declared, smiling at the microphone of TF1. Moreover, symbol of the cohesion of the group and the beautiful atmosphere, Kylian Mbappé offered him, while laughing, the captain’s armband for the last moments of the meeting. And all of Pavard’s teammates joked about his historic double on the microphones: from Griezmann to Konaté, including Camavinga.
Who says competition can sometimes mean tension? In the two matches of this truce, OGC Nice defender Jean-Clair Todibo did not return for a single second, even if he was sent to warm up. But once again, Didier Deschamps manages his group perfectly and avoids unnecessary friction. He explained at a press conference his choice to bring in the young Castello Lukeba, rather than the former FC Barcelona player: “There is no punishment from me. I had different choices. He went to warm up before Castello. As there was little time left, I took the opportunity to make Castello a new international, but it was not to the detriment of Jean-Clair. It’s not a sanction even if, when in doubt, it’s better to avoid it in an evening like that… There would have been two or three who could have whistled at him.”. Indeed, affected by a controversy linked to uncontrolled laughter during a minute of silence against the Oranjes, Deschamps preferred to spare Todibo, who already has a cape with the selection.
Last point in the management of competition: the case of Eduardo Camavinga who, like Benjamin Pavard, also complained about his use in the system of Didier Deschamps (but especially of Carlo Ancelotti at Real Madrid) in due to an increasing number of minutes played at the right-back position, and not in the midfield. Author of a terrible loss of the ball on a poorly timed restart, the Casa Blanca midfielder is aware that his error cost the Scottish opener. But he accepts it and doesn’t profile it: “A mistake on my part… I was keen to continue doing what I know and not stay there. We are very happy with our performance”, he clarified. And it is out of the question for Didier Deschamps to bury his player, on the contrary he prefers to underline his reaction: “He’s making a big mistake. It took him a little time to get over it, he was less liberated than usual. It freed him a little when we took the advantage. The error is possible, it happens there too. He reacted well”, explained the French coach. With six goals scored in two won matches, this international break could not have been better!
