It’s not a page that turns, it’s a thick chapter. The French football team begins Friday March 24 at 8:45 p.m., against the Netherlands, the Euro 2024 qualifiers without the two goalkeepers who have been on all the adventures over the past thirteen years.
Captain of the 2018 world champions, who became the most capped player in the history of the Blues at the World Cup in Qatar at the end of 2022 (145 selections), Hugo Lloris, 36, announced in January that he was ending his career international. He monopolized the post of goalkeeper since the distant time of the mandate of Raymond Domenech at the head of the selection, in 2009.
In the wake of Nice, Steve Mandanda, 37, his faithful understudy, made the same choice. “We talked about it with Hugo, we came to the same decision. (…) Today, there are young people arriving”he said at a press conference.
If both goalkeepers continue their club careers – at Tottenham, England, for Lloris; at Stade Rennes for Mandanda – the announcement of their international retirement did not spark a heated debate. On the contrary, both will be honored at the curtain raiser for Friday’s match at the Stade de France (Saint-Denis), alongside defender Raphaël Varane, another part of the selection who has bowed out.
Maignan designated as the legitimate successor
A little more than three months after the World Cup final lost against Argentina and at the dawn of a new qualifying campaign, it is therefore an unprecedented trio of goalkeepers who have been selected by Didier Deschamps for the reception of the Netherlands and the trip, Monday March 27, to Ireland: Mike Maignan (27, AC Milan), Alphonse Areola (30, West Ham) and Brice Samba (28, RC Lens). The latter was summoned for the first time; each of the first two have five selections to their credit.
If none of these porters has so far ensured the rearguard of the Blues during a major international competition, this does not mean that they start on an equal footing. The starting place seems already reserved for Mike Maignan.
Hugo Lloris himself designated him as his legitimate successor: “It’s time for others to take their chances, and we know that Mike [Maignan] is destined to take over »he confided after the announcement of his international retirement.
Asked this week at a press conference about the hierarchy at the post of goalkeeper, Didier Deschamps, however skilled at wielding wooden language in front of journalists, answered bluntly: “The number one position obviously goes to Mike Maignan. » Before all the same to specify that ” the hierarchy “ of this international gathering “may also be different for the next June”.
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