While the French are fully focused on the general election, Didier Deschamps presented himself at a press conference this Sunday evening, on the eve of the Round of 16 against Belgium.
To what extent can what you experienced three years ago with an elimination in the round of 16 against Switzerland help you?
It was three years ago, it was painful, and we will do everything to prevent it from happening again. Even though we learn from all experiences, even negative ones. We’ve done other things since then and we’ve got a place in the quarter-finals to go for.
To what extent can this diamond system put your attackers in the best conditions?
I always make sure to field a team that seems to me to have the best possible ability to put the opponent in trouble and be solid defensively. The important thing for me is the offensive and defensive animations with good occupation of the zones. I also aim to put all the players in the best conditions whenever possible because it can happen that some don’t play their position. But it is for the benefit of the group. Once you’ve split it into different geometric positions, it’s part of the game.
In the event of a penalty shootout, do you have the right strategy?
Above all, we had the chance or the success to win our knockout games in 90 minutes. A penalty shootout is being prepared because we have information about our opponents and our players. But we can’t predict everything either, for example during the last one (Argentina in 2022), I made seven changes during the match. So those who were scheduled and those who were fired were not necessarily the same. My goal is to make sure we don’t go there, but if we have to go, we go.
You repeated to your players that a new competition was about to start. What do you expect differently from them?
We had the journey we had. It is a new competition in the competition, there is no way to catch up. On the other hand, the teams that qualified were better than the ones that were eliminated, although we can debate that. We already have to redo everything we’ve done well, and we want to be efficient. To win matches you must score. We didn’t, it can happen to any team. Great scorers can have breakdowns. We have to raise our level because we want quality against us.
Do you sense any signs that the group is waking up?
[Il coupe] They never slept. We did what we did, we could have done better. We have always been concerned and attentive and I honestly have a very large group. As in all teams, there are players who are disappointed because they didn’t play a minute. The question leads to a more important requirement that needs to be implemented on site.
Until now, the teams you lead have scored a lot of goals in the final stages. Can players feel any stress?
None. We score few goals, that’s factual and I can’t say anything. But Belgium also only scored two goals, so what can we say? The players are not worn out. There must not be a tension phenomenon.
What does the level of the euro inspire you?
It is very difficult for everyone. The teams that are there, even if they are considered small on paper, play really well with a lot of intensity. Apart from Portugal and Spain, who qualified from the second group match, all the others were to fight during the third meeting. This means that there is a very high level.
