In the history of the Blues, the prize for surprise certainly goes to Pascal Chimbonda, unexpected guest at the 2006 World Cup. But Raymond Domenech, who will do it again four years later by calling up a Marc Planus then never called up for the French team, is not the only one to have surprised his world by revealing a list for a major competition. Didier Deschamps has also reserved a few surprises since his arrival at the head of the Blues in 2012.
From his first list, on the occasion of the 2014 World Cup, the French coach did not hesitate to invite Rémy Cabella and Morgan Schneiderlin to Brazil after the withdrawals of Clément Grenier and Franck Ribéry. The two men had in fact never been called up to the Blues. Rebelote four years later with this time the summons of Presnel Kimpembe, Lucas Hernandez and Steven Nzonzi. If they have already been seen in the French team, the first has only one selection while the other two only have two at the time of the announcement of the list of 23 Blues.
And if for Euro 2016, Didier Deschamps had not reserved any surprises, contenting himself with summoning Eliaquim Mangala to replace Mamadou Sakho’s package, he on the other hand also created the event at the time of Euro 2021 by summoning Karim Benzema, whom he had however excluded from the France team for more than five years.
“I am not closed about my decisions”
And for the 2022 World Cup, while his presence seemed to have become incompatible with that of Karim Benzema, Olivier Giroud was finally selected by Didier Deschamps. “ From there, I am not closed about my decisions. There are also internal elements,” he had justified. Two years ago, Didier Deschamps had two major surprises in store in the run-up to the Euro: the big return of N’Golo KantĂ© and the call-up of Bradley Barcola, until then never called up for the France team.
Could the list that Didier Deschamps will reveal on Thursday hold a new surprise? If Esteban Lepaul, the top scorer in Ligue 1, and the third most prolific French striker of the season, seems to have made up his mind, players summoned sparingly in recent months can indeed hope to be part of the adventure in America.
