From our special correspondent in Düsseldorf,
Arriving like a prince (of the sape) on the Clairefontaine side at the start of the gathering, leather jacket, flashy little tie and heeled boots that go well, Jules Koundé had made his teammates of the French team laugh a lot. What made us laugh the most was this almost methodical determination of Didier Deschamps to make this formidable central defender by trade a regular at the right-back position.
But after his mammoth match against Belgium on Monday in Düsseldorf, there are not many people left who dare to make fun. The only one laughing today is the coach, who is only too happy to have sewn our mouths shut with knitting needles. With a smile that we have not seen since his arrival in Germany, Deschamps savored his moment at the press conference after the qualification against the Red Devils.
“It’s a huge source of pride to be in the quarter-finals again. Even if we’re expected to be there, we shouldn’t trivialize it. And then, well, I have Jules Koundé, who you’ve been training for me for two years, who is man of the match, so everything’s fine. Which just goes to show that you have to have a bit of restraint, despite everything,” he boasted. On this one, Didier, as is (too) often the case with you, we bow out and shut up.
Teammates under the spell
It must be said that the former Girondin delivered a massive, solid performance from start to finish of the match. We could even say that he delivered his best match in Bleu, without too much risk of being wrong. “Jules played a huge match,” confirmed Aurélien Tchouameni, his buddy and former teammate at Bordeaux. I’ve known him for a long time, despite what is said, he is one of the best in his position and he is showing it, I am really happy for him, he deserves it.”
From a defensive point of view, first of all, where the coach expects him as a priority, Koundé responded, even though he had a real rogue to contend with in the person of Jérémy Doku – “Djoku” according to DD – the twirling Belgian winger from Manchester City, whose dribbling and speed of impact have given Premier League defenders quite a few nightmares this season.
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“Jules was very good in his one-on-one with Doku,” praised Adrien Rabiot in the mixed zone. “We know that he is a very lively player who likes to dribble and it is never easy to take him. And yet he managed well.” It is not complicated – even if Domenico Tedesco’s selection did its best to ABOVE ALL take the least offensive risk possible against the Blues – the former Rennes player still spent his evening in the back pocket of “King Koundé”.
An undeniable offensive contribution against the Belgians
Which allowed him, and this is where we perhaps expected him a little less, to regularly take his corridor and bring the danger offensively. Usually so uncomfortable in the exercise, not helped either by the instructions of Deschamps, the Ayatollah of balance, even though he tried to make us swallow the opposite, Koundé delivered some not bad crosses. Notably the one in the tenth minute to find the goat hair of Marcus Thuram’s head.
« “I feel good in this team. I try to adapt while knowing that my vocation is above all defensive. Afterwards, when there is space, I try to contribute as much as possible, he confided in a press conference, he the man of the match on Monday evening. Today, it’s true that it was a good configuration because we knew that Doku is not a player who particularly likes to defend. So, I had spaces and I just tried to take advantage of the good movements of my teammates.” »
“I think I’m continuing what I’ve done in recent months at Barcelona,” he continued. After a more complicated start to the season, hampered by a minor knee injury, Koundé has managed to get back on track and establish himself as one of the reliable players in Xavi’s Barça. “I wasn’t playing my best football,” he admitted. “It was also a desire to play a little more offensively, but I didn’t have the energy to make the defensive efforts and so it cost me a few times.”
But instead of sinking, this boy with a competitive temperament has, by his own admission, “taken refuge in work”. “I analyzed my matches a lot and talked with the coach, Xavi in Barcelona, but also with Didier Deschamps. And I feel good physically today. In addition, I have the confidence of my teammates and the coach. We can say that I am going through my best period in Bleu”, he confirmed.
Koundé, a potential full-back and committed citizen
And since this boy is not only a good footballer but also a man of values, he did not hesitate for a moment to react to the results of the first round of the legislative elections which saw the National Rally win nearly ten million votes, he who the day before had already tweeted to say all the bad things he thought of this political party now on the threshold of power in France.
So here we go again on Monday evening: “It will be important to block the far right and the National Rally. This is not a party that will lead our country towards more freedom and living together. I was disappointed to see the direction our country is taking, with great support for a party that is against our values of living together, of respect and that wants to divide the French. But there is a second round, nothing is decided and we still have to go and find the people who did not vote.”
A committed citizen and a footballer by duty, the Parisian by birth seems to have found in this position of right-back, which he took time to tame and accept, a fulfillment that must delight Didier Deschamps. And if at the beginning we thought to highlight the fact that it is never a very good sign when the man of the match is a defender, with hindsight, knowing that the French team is well on its way to playing cement mixer until the end of this competition, this is perhaps the best thing that can happen to him.
