It’s nothing compared to Belgium! If Didier Deschamps’ French team has been disappointing for a while, even with its run to the semi-finals of Euro 2024, the Red Devils are truly in a catastrophic situation. Kevin De Bruyne and his teammates offered a pitiful European Championship to their supporters and the team led by Domenico Tedesco is sinking ever deeper into a terrible crisis. Without their star playmaker (in the recovery phase at Manchester City), the Belgians snatched a miraculous draw in Italy (2-2) last Thursday.
The new Belgium-France clash this Monday in Brussels (8:45 p.m., live on TF1), as part of the fourth day of the group stage of the League of Nations, can change everything. A second defeat against the Blues, a month after that in Lyon (2-0), should eliminate the Red Devils from the race for the quarter-finals scheduled for next March (the first two in each group are qualified). Italy, leader of this group 2 with one point more than France, hosts Israel at the same time. The 3rd in each group must also play a play-off against a 2nd in league B.
Thierry Henry, we are waiting for the rest…
Domenico Tedesco is clearly in the hot seat. After the Euro in Germany, the leaders of the Belgian federation maintained the German coach (of Italian origin) but made a negative assessment of his work since February 2023. At the time, the former coach of Schalke 04 and of RB Leipzig had been chosen to succeed Roberto Martinez at the expense of Thierry Henry, one of the Spanish coach’s assistants and hoped for by certain executives of the selection. Mauricio Pochettino, Joachim Löw, André Villas-Boas and even Hervé Renard and Claude Puel had been mentioned by the press across Quiévrain.
Thierry Henry is obviously free after his resignation from the position of coach of the France Espoirs team following the silver medal obtained at the football tournament of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, on August 9. Based in London (and again star consultant on CBS during Champions League evenings), the best player in Arsenal’s history is awaiting a new major challenge. He probably hopes to manage a big club, but the call from Belgium could be difficult to refuse.
