8th final – France – Belgium – Didier Deschamps, the smell of sulfur

On the front line. Didier Deschamps is the man of this Euro. He is the one who changes, tries, tests, experiments. He cannot be accused of being a wait-and-see or stubborn person. He is searching. The problem is that he now has to find. Because after three matches, this team still does not know who it is. This Euro is furiously reminiscent of the previous edition where the team compositions and systems varied in each match to finally produce an unexpected three-man defense against Switzerland, a Clément Lenglet taken out of the fridge after a month without playing and a monumental crash. But in 2021, the Blues had to face a cascade of injuries that had thwarted their plans.

This time, no injury, with the notable exception of that of Kylian Mbappé, and a plan… very nebulous until now. Deschamps fumbles. He wants to both put his captain in the conditions they prefer and align his four midfielders (Rabiot, Griezmann, Kanté, Tchouaméni). This is the meaning of the 4-4-2 diamond which holds the rope but which… has never been tried until now. The return of Kanté is a genius idea given his performances but it places DD in a situation that he does not seem to have anticipated. Like Karim Benzema who redesigned the balance in attacks in 2021.

Three years later, it’s the same unpreparedness that pushes Deschamps to play the sorcerer’s apprentice in every match. If with the return of Benzema, his team, more spectacular, undoubtedly leaned too far forward, today it returned to its DNA. Probably too much. The Blues have never been so restrictive and it is also this lack of momentum and fever which has chipped away at the status of the vice-world champions.

Today, Didier Deschamps is on the front line because he keeps trying and his choices are not bearing fruit. The first round sowed more doubts than promises, especially in his ability to find solutions. Where has the collective strength of the vice-world champions gone?

Like every two years or so, he seems to be playing for his life in the round of 16 even though his contract still runs for two years. Its president, however, cleared the ground: “We are with a coach who, for years, has had sustained results at the highest level which speak for himrecalled Philippe Diallo in L’Equipe. At Euro 2021, some observers said that the elimination in the round of 16 was a failure and that we needed to change coach. A year later, we played in the World Cup final and we missed out on adding a third star to our jersey by a few centimetres.” But will he resist popular pressure, the poverty of the blue game so far and the shadow of Zinedine Zidane, who still waits so quietly in a corner?

Does he still have control over his locker room since the departure, forced or not, of some of his main relays (Raphaël Varane, Hugo Lloris, Steve Mandanda, Paul Pogba)? History makes us very cautious and drawing definitive conclusions today makes no sense. In 2016 and 2018, the Blues had not excited anyone with their debuts. The round of 16 had acted as a trigger. Against Ireland, in Lyon, Deschamps had found his typical team and the Olivier Giroud – Antoine Griezmann connection offered a bright future to the Blues. Two years later in Kazan, the crazy tango against Lionel Messi’s Argentina had brought Kylian Mbappé to the world’s eyes and revealed a team.

Although he doesn’t always get away with it, Deschamps likes the smell of sulfur. She inspires the competitive beast that he is. Will the magic still work against Belgium?