By beating Colombia 3-1 with an eleven largely overhauled by Didier Deschamps on Sunday evening, the French team sealed a spring tour in the form of a show of force in style. First news, the message sent by the Blues was well received internationally. The foreign sports press is unanimous, these Blues – winners of Brazil a few days earlier – are scary.
“France proved against Colombia that it is a serious contender for the world title,” writes the Spanish sports daily Mark. “A France that scares” is already trembling To Ball in Portugal. Or in Brazil on the magazine’s website Score : “France proved this Sunday why it is one of the great powers in world football. »
Didier Deschamps doesn’t like comfort
In short, here and elsewhere, it is difficult to imagine an opponent strong enough to shatter the dreams of the third star of the French team. Come on, yes, just one: Spain, possible opponent in the semi-final, the only team that can spank both our A team and our B team, to paraphrase the Mexican journalist Juan Carlos Zuniga who believes that “France’s B team can reach the semi-finals of the World Cup without any problem”.
Reassured by the fitness levels, the synergy of his squad and the depth of his bench, particularly in the offensive sector (Mbappé, Dembélé, Olise, Ekitike, Doué, Cherki, an indecent and non-exhaustive list), Didier Deschamps nevertheless refuses to put on the braggart costume three months before the 2026 World Cup. A caution which is due to a cultural trait summed up by the coach: “the French athlete, when he is put in a comfort, that’s not where it’s at its best. » And especially the footballer.
The last time such a feeling of serenity invaded us dates back to the beginning of the summer of 2021. Karim Benzema had just made his return to Blue to form a supposedly unstoppable trident alongside Kylian Mbappé and Antoine Griezmann, while Paul Pogba walked on water and N’N’Golo Kanté ran everywhere – this last point remains relevant. After the inaugural victory against Germany, everyone already imagined France as European champion. Things finally got worse against Hungary and Portugal, and Switzerland finished the job, helped by a feverish defense and the famous French complacency that DD fears above all else.
The specter of 2002 and the bad dream of 1992
In terms of broken promises, however, we will never do better than the 2002 World Cup. Question of context. First, we would have to at least win a World Cup and a Euro consecutively to be sure of falling as high as 24 years ago. Then, we would have to fail to score a single goal in three matches while having appeared at the World Cup with the top scorer in Ligue 1 (Djibril Cissé), the top scorer in the Premier League (Thierry Henry) and the top scorer in Calcio (David Trézéguet). A performance a priori destined to sit ad vitam aeternam in the pantheon of French football loser.
Finally, a more distant memory forces us to also cite Euro 1992, for which the French team qualified by winning eight out of eight matches. Supported by the Papin-Cantona tandem and led by Michel Platini, the Blues were clearly candidates for a second continental coronation. But Scandinavian football has been there. A draw against Sweden and a defeat against surprise guest and future winner Denmark condemned France to a premature exit in the group stage.
What if we just enjoyed the present moment?
Morality, being in shape too early and possessing intimidating offensive power have not always been a guarantee of success for the Blues. Taking the light also means allowing other rivals to advance in the shadows and allowing future adversaries to take notes. Would we have preferred to deprive ourselves of the pleasure of offending Brazil and giving Colombia a football lesson out of prudence and superstition? To respond in the positive would mean forgetting the years of hardship spent fantasizing about the beautiful game for our Blues, the years when the French team impressed neither before, nor during, nor after the competitions.
The last gap doesn’t date that much, it was two years ago, and the boring streak of Euro 2024 (two CSC goals in favor of the Blues, not a pawn marked in the game before Kolo Muani against Spain), failure announced by a worrying draw against Canada (0-0) before the start of the tournament. Let us therefore allow ourselves to enjoy this moment of euphoria, to savor the childish enthusiasm of Rayan Cherki, the efficiency of Désiré Doué, the power of Kylian Mbappé and the altruism of Michael Olise, but let us keep in the back of our minds that it may evaporate in June-July at the time of the bitter battles against rough low blocks on the lookout for the slightest counter-assassin.
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