PlugWorld champion and finalist of the last Euro, the France of Antoine Griezmann and Kylian Mbappé approaches the continental competition with ambition.
Blues, like the color of their jersey.
The calendar (French time)
June 15: France v Germany, 9 p.m., in Munich
June 19: Hungary v France, 3 p.m., in Budapest
June 23: Portugal v France, 9 p.m., in Budapest
The first two of each group as well as the four best thirds qualify.
The team that should play
Hugo Lloris (captain) – Benjamin Pavard, Raphaël Varane, Presnel Kimpembe, Lucas Hernandez – Paul Pogba, N’Golo Kanté, Adrien Rabiot – Karim Benzema, Antoine Griezmann, Kylian Mbappé.
The Blues have two victories (1984 and 2000) and will take part, from June 15, for the tenth time in the competition – including eight in a row. In 2016, at home, Antoine Griezmann’s teammates narrowly failed in the final against Portugal (0-1).
The coach: Didier Deschamps
World champion on the field (1998) and on the bench (2018), “La Dèche” is used to winning. No wonder, therefore, that the French coach campaigned in favor of Noël Le Graët, easily reelected at the head of the French Football Federation (FFF) at the beginning of March. Guaranteed to extend his mandate – at least – until the World Cup in Qatar, the Basque has experienced an upward trajectory since his arrival at the head of the Blues in 2012. Quarter-finalist at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, finalist Euro 2016, crowned during the Russian World Cup (2018), Didier Deschamps does not intend to hang up anytime soon. “When you are a coach, the age limit does not exist”, he warned.
A player: N’Golo Kanté
“He’s small, he’s nice, he stopped Leo Messi. “ Since the World Cup in Russia, N’Golo Kanté is one of the few to win unanimous support. Criticizing the Chelsea Blues and Blues midfielder seems as incongruous as speaking out against world peace or encouraging the extinction of the dolphins. A disarming smile, an accessible personality, teammates who lend him the gift of ubiquity, he is so everywhere on the field.
“Warm blue” in club as in the French team, the leprechaun (1.69 m) steals the balloons without losing his good humor and turbine to ensure the smooth running of the blue mechanics. Able to immediately accept an invitation to lunch from a complete stranger a few months after lifting the World Cup, N’Golo Kanté returned to his best level: he was voted best player in the home and away semi-finals and in the Champions League final, won by the Blues. Former international in this position, Luis Fernandez is a midfielder “The modern player par excellence. He is not tall in size but what does he give! He has learned, has adapted, he runs and makes the effort. ” Everyone loves N’Golo Kanté.
It happened at the Euro
Nation that prides itself on being at the origin of many international competitions (from the Football World Cup, at the initiative of Jules Rimet, to the modern version of the Olympic Games), failing to have invented football, France is also a stakeholder in the Euro matrix. Host of the first edition of the European Nations Championship, in 1960, the French team, which we did not yet call “the Blues”, arrived in the crown of its third place at the 1958 World Cup and carried by his duo Just Fontaine-Raymond Kopa. Alas, the two aces, injured, will miss the call, and France will miss its first European meeting, eliminated by Yugoslavia (5-4) in the semi-finals … the first round of the competition at the time .
France of Didier Deschamps may have bet on an implacable defense to return to the top, the country has not always played collectively in the matter. In 1954, the embryo of a European army, the CED (for European Defense Community) envisaged by the six nations at the origin of the ECSC (the same thing, but for coal and steel, the first ferment of European Union), is rejected by the French National Assembly. Even though the country had initiated the project (alongside Germany, Italy, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands).
Gérard Lenorman’s charm only works halfway in Dublin during the 33e edition of the European song contest, in 1988. Our crooner comes in tenth position, collecting 64 points. The honor is safe since Lenorman bows before a future star: Celine Dion who wins for… Switzerland. The song had been developed in collaboration with a collector of hits, very 1980s, Didier Barbelivien.
“How’s your blanquette?” “ It is difficult to make a choice among the great diversity of French gastronomy. But we are simmering you a veal blanquette, an iconic dish if there is one. From the shoulder – or from the breast – of the beast, cream, a broth over carrots and onions, add a few mushrooms if necessary and cook over low heat. And don’t forget to taste.