At 8 or 9 p.m., we’ll know. We will know if Didier Deschamps has finally found the right formula, if this French team without direction until now has found some breathing space. Whatever happens, this is the day when everything changes. Which side ? In 2018 and 2016, after already frumpy first rounds, the round of 16 revealed a team, a system, men, a heart and a soul. In 2021, he had buried a competition which already seemed to have slipped through the fingers of the Benzema and Mbappé gang.
The great French teams have revealed themselves when they have contemplated the abyss from very close up. When Brady opened the scoring at Groupama Stadium in the 2nd minute in 2016 or when Mercado took advantage of a bad alignment by Benjamin Pavard to give the Argentinians the advantage. It is in these moments when the ground shakes that the strength of Didier Deschamps’ groups has emerged.
Kylian Mbappé (France) against Austria
Credit: Getty Images
Who will animate the wings?
And in 2024 against Belgium? The coach changes everything, again. Place the 4-4-2 diamond. A new system, never tested before, which should put Mbappé in a chair and presence in the surface. Scoring, finally, will necessarily be necessary to reach the quarters and so far, in the game, the Blues have not gotten there in 270 minutes.
Why would he get there in 90 or 120? Antoine Griezmann, in support of his captain and Marcus Thuram, will have a heavy task on his shoulders. If he wakes up, the Blues can dream out loud. More than the system that freezes a team and does not say much, it will be necessary to monitor the animation. What will Griezmann and Thuram do when they lose the ball? Who will animate the wings? Kanté and Koundé on the right? The questions and interrogations are endless and escort a team that has asked itself more questions than it has found solutions.
Why is Deschamps playing big? “These Blues have never been so restrictive”
The Red Devils are a little less evil
Faced with it, Belgium is not much better off. A defeat against Slovakia in the group stage, a ric-rac qualification: if France has bored a lot of people for two weeks, the Belgians’ qualification was greeted by a barrage of whistles from its own supporters. This clash between cousins is the best way to make up for everything and escape the scaffold.
Without Eden Hazard or Thibaut Courtois, the Red Devils are a little less diabolical. Six years after the epic semi-final in Saint Petersburg, there are not many left. Belgium has been downgraded and the seum is only a distant memory that recalls the time when it could look the best team in the world in the eye. France was not even the best team in its group and the balance of power, today, is no longer as unbalanced as it was at the start of the tournament.
“We will be there, and so will they. We are not going to look down on them, they are a very good team with very great players. But we are not afraid“, explained William Saliba. Deschamps repeated as in 2021 after a failed first round: “It’s a new competition that is starting.” Switzerland and the penalties had proven that the new competition had not erased the rest This time, at least the Blues will have a goalkeeper who knows how to save penalties, it will perhaps no longer be a detail for a team which no longer leaves a competition outside of a session. penalties for… 8 years.
