With chaos at the administrative level, a quarrel between Karim Benzema and Didier Deschamps and a riot about the captaincy, it is old-fashioned restless around the French national team. A look at the troubles at the opponent of Orange.
Op 7 januari leek Deschamps voor een rustige aanloop naar de EK-kwalificatiereeks te tekenen. Ondanks wat kritiek – velen vinden dat hij met misschien wel de beste ploeg ter wereld te verdedigend speelt – verlengde de succescoach zijn contract tot en met het WK van 2026.
Een paar dagen later was van de relatieve rust al weinig meer over. Er werd een onderzoek ingesteld naar de 81-jarige bondsvoorzitter Noël Le Graët, die door meerdere vrouwen werd beschuldigd van grensoverschrijdend gedrag. Voetbalbond FFF zette hem in afwachting van de onderzoeksresultaten op non-actief.
Direct kwamen er vragen over de contractverlenging van Deschamps, die met goedkeuring van Le Graët had bijgetekend. De FFF haastte zich door te benadrukken dat de verbintenis gewoon geldig zou blijven. Inmiddels heeft de bond Le Graët definitief aan de kant gezet.
Het bijtekenen van Deschamps verliep al niet helemaal geruisloos. Le Graët had rond de contractverlenging voor een relletje gezorgd door in harde bewoordingen duidelijk te maken dat Zinédine Zidane een baan als bondscoach kon vergeten. De publieke vernedering van het voetbalicoon kwam Le Graët op kritiek van Kylian Mbappé en vooraanstaande oud-internationals te staan.
Feud between Benzema and ‘clown’ Deschamps
In the meantime it became clear that Deschamps has to build a new French team. Record international and captain Hugo Lloris and defender Raphaël Varane (who is not yet thirty years old) decided to no longer make themselves available and to make room for a new generation.
They thus followed the example of the most talked about Frenchman of recent months: Karim Benzema. The Ballon d’Or winner dropped out with an injury just before the World Cup and decided to retire as an international not long after.
It marked the start of a public row, with both Benzema and Deschamps throwing mud. Deschamps stated in an interview that Benzema could still have taken action at the World Cup and left the tournament on his own initiative, but according to the top striker, that is not true.
It is unclear exactly what 35-year-old Benzema thinks about it, but he showed on social media earlier this month that he thinks Deschamps is a clown. “What guts,” he wrote.
End of Griezmann as an international?
We are not there yet with the Graët case and the feud between Benzema and Deschamps. Due to the departure of Lloris, a new captain had to be appointed recently and that also led to a riot.
Deschamps announced on Tuesday that not Antoine Griezmann, but star player Mbappé will take over the band. “He can not only play football well, but also communicate excellently,” said the national coach.
French media unpacked a day later with reports of an angry Griezmann. The attacker with the pink coupe would have long thought that he would become the captain, but has to make do with a role as reserve captain. The 117-time international would even have considered thanking the French team out of dissatisfaction, but that was not confirmed by Deschamps on Thursday.
The national coach acknowledged that Griezmann was disappointed when he heard that Mbappé, eight years his junior, was preferred. But that wouldn’t have lasted long. “We celebrated Griezmann’s 32nd birthday with the entire selection on Tuesday,” Deschamps said, emphasizing that everything is fine now.
Despite all the riots, France is the favorite for the match against the Orange, which starts at 8.45 p.m. on Friday. A game against Ireland will follow for the French on Monday. The Netherlands then plays at home against Gibraltar.
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