The last gathering of the French team was marked by the media battle between Didier Deschamps and Hubert Fournier. The DTN wanted to change the way they approached penalties to avoid defeats for the Blues. 2 months later, he made his mea culpa.
Didier Deschamps fail in the penalty shootout? If the coach of the French team has a solid record, he has not yet managed to win this type of matches on the Blues bench. The French remain on two failures in official competition: in the round of 16 of Euro 2021 against Switzerland and in the final of the 2022 World Cup against Argentina. Two failures which are not trivial since the French teams in general know them well. The French women’s team was released in this way at the 2023 World Cup while the French U17s lost two finals in a few months in this exercise. Hubert Fournier wants this to change and has recommended putting in place “ a process » last February.
Fournier apologizes to Deschamps
Fournier’s comments were received coldly by Didier Deschamps, known for having described the penalties as “ lottery » in Qatar. Deschamps judged the release of the DTN “ displaced ” and even ” disrespectful for the work done by national coaches » during the gathering last March. A counterattack which prompted Hubert Fournier to let go. In an interview with AFP this Tuesday, the national technical director of French football apologized to Didier Deschamps.
“ I make my mea culpa. I made a communication error. I am not the greatest communicator and people have misunderstood my words: I was not telling Didier Deschamps and his teams, the A and the Espoirs, how they should approach a training session. shoot to the net. This is not my domain anyway. We explained. End of the story. […] Didier is the greatest coach in the history of French football. It was not my intention to tell him how to approach a penalty shootout, especially in the final of a World Cup where it is even more special. But I wanted to inform people about what we are doing among young people because the format of the competitions is changing, there is less and less overtime, and we decide directly with penalties. We lost two titles on penalties. It was the time to ask questions, how to better approach this exercise “, he confided. A way to stand together behind Didier Deschamps as Euro 2024 is fast approaching.
