After ten kilometers of crossing through a forest of oaks and pines, a clearing blooming with lilacs opens up. A fawn passes by. Old hunting lodges and a palace appear among the foliage. At the top of a hill stands a glass temple with a staircase that descends into the depths of the offices of the French National Football Center, half buried in the Clairefontaine hill. A door opens and it is the coach’s office, a balcony suspended over a valley of meadows and goals. Didier Deschamps (Bayonne, 1968) smiles.
Ask. No European team went further than France in the World Cup in Qatar. Is there another team with more potential in this Euro Cup?
Answer. It seems logical to me that France is a favorite. But there are eight European teams in the top-10 of the FIFA ranking (1st Argentina, 2nd France, 3rd Belgium, 4th England, 5th Brazil, 6th Portugal, 7th Netherlands, 8th Spain, 9th Italy and 10th Croatia). All of these are qualified to be champions. A Euro is always very dense. I don’t know if it’s more difficult than a World Cup, but if you see the distribution of the groups, each one shows significant solidity. We need to perform from the beginning. Ok, the fact that we were world champions in 2018 and runners-up in 2022 puts us in another category, but the differences with other teams are not substantial.
Q. Which teams do you perceive as the biggest threats?
R. Those who have reached the quarterfinals in Qatar (France, Netherlands, Portugal, England and Croatia) have more credit than the others.
Q. Mbappé is going through a time of profound personal and professional changes that coincide with the tournament. How does he manage it?
R. Mbappé has been the center of everything for a long time without me having done much to manage this situation. He is subjected to all kinds of questions every day, he lives in the present all the time. There is a personal reality that he must live with. But in France he occupies the captain’s place and this is a responsibility that he fully assumes and I know perfectly well that he will not do anything that goes against the collective interest. Nothing that happens on his personal level is any problem.
I have no doubt: it doesn’t matter which club he goes to, he will succeed anyway
Q. You made him captain. What qualities did he value?
R. He is a player outside the norm on the field, but I have been able to see in all the conversations we have had since he arrived at the age of 18 that he is a person of great maturity. He is very intelligent.
Q. Has your behavior changed?
R. Take the word more. She is radiant. He joins a collective project, even though he has the ability to make a difference on his own. The new cast of Kylian as captain and Griezmann as vice has worked very well. It’s a new balance of power, but he doesn’t need to do more than he did. He is eager. In this group, the players want to be together and this is important because we spend more time together off the field than on it.
Q. How are you feeling to compete in the championship?
R. Smiling, like everyone. His preparation, athletic and psychological state is excellent. When you arrive at the national team you are in a completely different context from that of the club. I talk about that with all the players. Here you must be mentally prepared because to compete in this Euro neither talent nor physical appearance are enough.
Q. Do you think Mbappé needed to sign for Madrid to evolve?
R. It’s your choice. He has had magnificent years here in Paris. Now he will find himself in a totally different social and political context, in an institution like Madrid, through which great players have passed. It will fit in a frame. I have no doubt: it doesn’t matter which club he goes to, he will succeed anyway.
My mission is to put the team in the best conditions so that it is as effective as possible.
Q. Luis Enrique at PSG has challenged him to play up front and he has not seemed very comfortable there. Why is his starting point from the left never discussed in France?
R. He hasn’t always played up front. He’s moved around quite a bit. Beyond the adjustments you make, the most important thing is that he has as much freedom as possible, and that he has different options. He has the ability to play in all offensive zones. My mission is to put the team in the best conditions so that it is as effective as possible.
Q. You are the oldest Euro coach. He officiated his first match for France in 2012…
R. France – Uruguay, Le Havre, 0-0. We haven’t won a few games since then, otherwise maybe I wouldn’t be here… (their balance is 151 games, 98 wins, 27 draws, and 26 losses).
Q. What does Deschamps know that his colleagues don’t?
R. Every morning when I wake up I say to myself: “I only know that I know nothing.” Honestly, I have experience in many competitions but I am not here to give lessons. The adventure that ended with winning the World Cup in 2018 could have ended differently as well. Every four years, more or less 70% of the national coaches change. To remain you need results, and France has had them and must continue to have them.
Q. Will he be a coach for life? Will they bury him in Clairefontaine?
R. Let me live beyond work. I have been linked to the federation until 2026. Beyond 2026 I feel that I have earned the freedom to choose. I don’t even consider the future now.
Q. Where has European football evolved since 2012?
R. The biggest change has been the VAR. We can discuss many things about the opportunity to intervene or the interpretation of plays, but there are indisputable facts: when there is an offside, there is an offside. Be it two millimeters or four centimeters. Regarding players and teams, since 2012 it has been difficult to compare generations because there has been a technological and medical evolution. It is evident that today the intensity is higher: players do more sprints at 100% and get more injuries.
Q. The tactical reading of matches has become omnipresent. To what extent can football be rationalized so much from the bench?
R. It has happened since they began to press very high and since many coaches decided to play with the ball controlled under any circumstances, even from behind the goal.
What interests me is the percentage between the risk and the simple and well-made game. That’s why I want to ask my goalkeeper to systematically clear or long throw
Q. Do you believe in playing?
R. I believe in controlling the ball after throwing it long. I have yet to see a team that has scored a goal after traveling 150 meters with the ball under control. But there you have it, these are dominant influences. You don’t have to go against everyone because there are many goals that are also scored due to errors. What interests me is the percentage between the risk and the simple and well-made game. That’s why I want to ask my goalkeeper to systematically clear or long throw. This is certainly excessive, but I see developments in the players’ positions. Players can rezone much more. It is played with fewer fixed positions to increase the uncertainty in the opponent, but with the condition that the player who moves can occupy an area at a very precise moment. At the end of the day, it all depends on the players. If you don’t have a team that has offensive quality, you have to be dangerous too. Each coach has to try to exploit his or her abilities to the maximum. Individual potential is good but by playing with six forwards you are not going to score more goals. The high level is not about scoring goals. You have to know how to defend. 40% of the time? The 30th%? Does not matter. What counts is efficiency and having a balance with different options, both to plan different games from the beginning, and to change the games while you play them. You have to react quickly to changing circumstances.
Q. Griezmann says that the fundamental thing about football is knowing how to defend.
R. It is paradoxical that Antoine says this. But Antoine is different. He has a unique capacity for creativity, efficiency in attack, and at the same time loves to run when we lose the ball. This doesn’t just happen because Atlético asks them to. Antoine loves football, and he loves to defend because he is used to it. Sometimes I have to call his attention to get him a little higher on the field!
Q. It will surely be the last Euro for Kroos, Cristiano, Modric, Giroud… What does this generational change suggest to you?
R. That they are over 35 years old, that we will see more and more players close to 40, and that this will be the last Euro for many more players, much younger than them, who do not know that they are about to play their last Euro.
Q. Barcola, Zaïre Emery, Camavinga… Is there material to regenerate France?
R. The abundance of young people is a French particularism. For us it has been very important to train young people who can emigrate, and above all what characterizes us is the preformation. Before you saw many 14-year-olds in semi-professional teams, and now we even see 12-year-olds. At 17 years old, many are ready for the high level and this is indicative of magnificent potential. This rapid maturation is difficult to see in other sports, individual or collective. In France they have more chances of making their debut in the First Division because the clubs do not have as many resources to sign as in other European championships. This means that the boys can go very quickly to Spain, England, Germany or Portugal. The training of young footballers is not the life of French clubs: it is the survival of all with the exception of PSG.
Q. Why did you call up N’Golo Kanté? Is the Saudi League competitive enough?
R. Competitive regarding what? What we see in Arabia, with the specificities of the temperature, with so many European, South American and African players, many younger than Kanté, is a good level. Kanté spent a blank season due to injuries, which is why he did not go to the World Cup in Qatar. He has been able to fully recover and what he does there is well above average, and not because the players in Arabia are worse. I can assure it. I watch games from France, Spain, Italy and Germany. I spend my time watching great games!
Q. Kanté never takes unnecessary risks and Camavinga plays to the limit, even in front of his area. How do you get a player with such a poetic spirit to assume midfielder responsibilities?
R. Eduardo has played more this season and is learning to maintain the same level over the weeks and months. That is not easy. I know he takes a lot of risks. I tell you. He has that ability and Kanté, who is a great player, there are things he can’t do. When they turn out well, it’s fabulous! But… it’s obviously risky and I think he’s made a lot of progress in this regard as well. He has learned from Tchoumeni, but above all from Modric and Kroos, who have a lot of judgment. I think that lately Eduardo is playing in more offensive positions and there, if you are more rational you don’t take risks, but risks in attack are part of the game. This season, again, we saw him play everywhere. I think that when he stabilizes and remains in the same register he will gain in effectiveness.
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