Unattractive in June and decimated by injuries in September, the France team seeks to raise its head, Thursday (8:45 p.m.) against Austria in Saint-Denis, a League of Nations match in the form of an opportunity for some novices and returnees.
The reception of David Alaba’s partners comes exactly two months before the Blues’ first match at the 2022 World Cup, against Australia, in Qatar.
But the team lined up Thursday at the Stade de France will not have the same face as the one that will challenge the world title in November in Doha, because an unprecedented cascade of injuries fell on the head of the Blues. Each line is deprived of at least one frame: Hugo Lloris in goal, Presnel Kimpembe and Lucas Hernandez in defense, Paul Pogba and N’Golo Kanté in the middle and Karim Benzema in attack.
In summary, the “eleven” of the injured would look at least as good as that of the able players.
“These are the last two matches before the huge challenge in November. Certainly the situation today will not be the same in two months,” remarked Didier Deschamps on Wednesday, saying “to aspire for all the players to be available” for Qatar.
– “Youth” –
The coach finds himself with a very little capped group, where only six players out of twenty-three have more than twelve selections. The midfielder is particularly inexperienced: none of the six players called up to this post during the last Euro, fifteen months ago, is at Clairefontaine this week.
“Youth, yes, there are, but there is also experience: (Eduardo) Camavinga is European champion, Aurélien (Tchouaméni) plays for Real (Madrid). Names, there still has some”, evacuates the Monegasque Youssouf Fofana, one of the five novices of the group. “As far as the France team is concerned, okay, we have little experience, but in terms of competition and football matches, I think we are able to get by.”
Escorted by a heavy climate in recent weeks (Pogba affair, ministerial audit at the Federation, negotiations on their image rights …), the Blues would do well to raise the bar on the ground, because their latest results are puzzling .
The rally in June, with two defeats and two draws, including the first leg in Austria (1-1), cast doubt on the level of the world champions and the ability of their coach to adapt tactically to the many absences . “DD” initially wanted to evolve in a scheme with three central defenders but had resigned himself, in June, to renewing a 4-4-2 system, closer to that of the Russian World Cup.
– Avoid relegation –
In accounting terms, the Blues are already out of the League of Nations, of which they are the title holders. Worse, two new poor performances against Austria, then Sunday in Denmark, would condemn them to an unworthy relegation to the second division (League B) in this event launched in 2018 to replace the friendly matches.
The reception of Austria therefore offers the Habs an opportunity to redeem themselves, but also to score valuable points for the World Cup.
Mike Maignan, propelled goalkeeper N.1 with the absence of Lloris, must thus become the most used goalkeeper this year in selection. Revelation of last season, Tchouaméni can impose himself even more in the hierarchy in the middle, where Camavinga will want to scratch minutes, almost two years after his third and last selection.
Despite his 22 years, Tchouaméni “does not hesitate from his first selections to ask for the ball, to impose the tempo in the midfield. He is an already very mature player, I wish him to stay the course”, greeted Raphaël Varane who will be captain on Thursday in the absence of Lloris.
Ferland Mendy and Ousmane Dembélé, other returnees after more than a year of absence, also have a place to win for Doha, like Olivier Giroud, who seeks to prove to Deschamps that he can offer a peaceful and effective alternative to Benzema, alongside Antoine Griezmann and Kylian Mbappé.
For novices Fofana, Benoît Badiashile, Randal Kolo Muani, Adrien Truffert, and to a lesser extent goalkeeper Alban Lafont, getting the first minutes in the two-star jersey would already be a success. Before considering other dreams…