World Cup 2022 I Before France – Australia: Ousmane Dembelé, second chance, four years later

Four years ago, he had started the adventure in the skin of a holder and had finished it in that of the manager of Winchester FC with, all the same, a beautiful medal of world champion around his neck. In short, Ousmane Dembelé’s 2018 World Cup had not taken the turn hoped for by him and expected by Didier Deschamps.

The national coach loves footballer Dembelé. Unpredictable, full of talent and positive partner in a group, the FC Barcelona winger has almost all the qualities. While he got back on the right track, his physical glitches, as a result, left him in peace, Ousmane Dembelé found his way back to the castle and, on Tuesday, he will start again against Australia, four years and five months later.

In Kazan, let’s not cut corners, Ousmane Dembelé had missed it. In a three-headed attack composed by his own, those of Kylian Mbappé and Antoine Griezmann, the Barcelonan had inherited the note of 3 in our columns, with the following comment: “He did nothing good and ruined all his one-on-one situations in ineffective dribbling. Deprived of his best weapon, Dembélé loses his interest. His lack of defensive rigor has exposed his defense”. His lack of investment in the replacement had earned him – like Mbappé – the remonstrances of Didier Deschamps during the talk the next day.

Facing Peru (1-0), Giroud had returned and Dembelé had lost his place in the starting lineup, he would only find it again for the hairdressers’ match against Denmark (0-0) for a relative success since he would only play two minutes against Uruguay in the quarter-finals (2-0).

Tuesday, from the top of his 28 selections (and 4 goals), Ousmane Dembelé is offered a new chance. Another opportunity, too, to erase the cruel Euro 2021 which had seen him injured against Hungary (1-1), during the second match of the Blues. An injury which had also affected a tricolor group whose morale was already not in good shape.

Before the last two meetings in September, we had not seen him with the Blues. Rid of his various muscular troubles, he is there, this time. And if we are to believe his teammates, he is doing quite well. “We all know his quality. On the first training sessions, I can tell you that his hooks… it’s true!”s’ecstasy Axel Disasi.

Same echo with Youssouf Fofana: “It’s really impressive what he does, you never know if he’s going to go left or right. You don’t know where to take him. You mustn’t let him pick up speed. looks like a spectator. In his club, all that is question of discipline, he rectified it I think. Off the field, he is very mocking and quickly puts at ease. It is borderline him who comes more towards the new ones, we are very happy to have him for this competition.”

In short, Ousmane Dembelé ticks all the boxes. Probably aligned to the right of 4-2-3-1, with the trio Giroud, Mbappé, Griezmann, his mission will be to seize his chance this time. With Australia 2018 in the back of his mind.