The France puzzle standing between Didier Deschamps and World Cup immortality | OneFootball

When Didier Deschamps became manager of France, it was so long ago that Jose Mourinho was in charge of Real Madrid - the first time around, that is. It may be more pertinent to say that Sir Alex Ferguson was at Manchester United, Sir Kenny Dalglish had just left Liverpool and Tottenham were turning to Andre Villas-Boas. Another time.

Deschamps can feel the timeless figure who has spanned eras, but one is ending. After 14 years, he is standing down. It may be after 188 games, too, if he steers France to a third consecutive World Cup final or, indeed, a third-place match. He will fall just short of Joachim Low’s record for a European manager, of almost 15 years and 198 matches at the helm.

His immediate predecessor as a World Cup-winning coach could provide one comparison. Low stayed too long with Germany. If France flounder in the United States, the accusation will be that Deschamps has done likewise, especially as his former teammate, turned triple Champions League-winning manager, Zinedine Zidane seems to have spent years waiting to succeed him.

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Win in New York on 19 July, however, and there is a case for calling Deschamps the greatest World Cup manager of all: it is undeniable he has been gifted with terrific talents, but he has won one tournament and reached the final in another. It is worth remembering, too, that France’s last World Cup before he took charge, in South Africa in 2010, was an exercise in embarrassment, with more mutinies by the French players than wins, with a lone goal and an early exit.

And so, after Laurent Blanc stood down in 2012, there was a logic in turning to Deschamps. He duly joined Franz Beckenbauer in a select group to win the World Cup as both captain and manager. He has nonetheless been damned with faint praise, in part because he has had such talented players, in part because of his pragmatic bent. There is no such footballing philosophy as Deschampsball; yet no other manager has seen his side score seven goals in World Cup finals.

The counter-argument is to note Deschamps’ France reached the semi-finals of Euro 2024 without scoring an open-play goal; they instead had two own goals, one penalty and a successful penalty shootout. France were less than the sum of their parts then.

Under Deschamps, however, there has often been deft use of them to Les Bleus’ benefit. In the 2018 World Cup, for instance, he brought in Olivier Giroud, who did not muster a shot on target, let alone a goal, but proved the foil Kylian Mbappe and Antoine Griezmann required. His use of the unselfish Blaise Matuidi off the left gave Paul Pogba more licence to attack while ensuring it did not cost France.

Come 2022, and stripped of a midfield without Pogba and N’Golo Kante, he improvised, moving Griezmann deeper and showed a forgiving streak; Adrien Rabiot had refused to be on the standby list in 2018 but Deschamps did not hold it against him. There was a brutality in taking off Giroud and Ousmane Dembele in the first half of the final but it facilitated France’s fightback.

Deschamps can seem unsentimental; Griezmann, his great constant, was overlooked for the captaincy after Hugo Lloris retired, with Mbappe preferred. The striker, like Pogba, has touched greater heights in a France shirt than in his club career.

This may be Mbappe’s team now but it also contains the reigning Ballon d’Or winner; Dembele has had a lesser impact in the international game, as a meagre seven international goals shows, but represents one of four extraordinary attackers in Deschamps’ squad, with Mbappe, Desire Doue and Michael Olise.

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Part of the challenge for Deschamps will be finding the right balance around them; the profile of the French players means they are unlikely to top the possession statistics, but few possess as much game-changing pace on the break.

It could be required. The French route is scarcely straight forward. Being pitted with Norway and Senegal makes theirs one of the tougher groups. Win it and there is a potential last-16 tie with Germany. Come second and they could instead face Brazil at that stage. There might be a semi-final with Spain; if so, it would be a repeat of Euro 2024.

None of which makes it entirely easy. A feature of Deschamps’ teams, however, is that they tend to progress, sometimes at the expense of fine teams. In six tournaments under him, they have only gone out 1-0 to the eventual winners Germany in 2014, 1-0 to the winners Portugal in extra time in the final in Euro 2016, lost on penalties in Euro 2020 and the 2022 World Cup final and then defeated, rightly but narrowly, by Spain in Munich.

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All of which means Deschamps tends to travel further into tournaments than some more feted managers. During his tenure, some – Luis Enrique, Antonio Conte, Louis van Gaal – have had their taste of international football, and now it is the turn of others, such as Thomas Tuchel, Carlo Ancelotti and Mauricio Pochettino.

Meanwhile, Deschamps has replaced Low as the great constant. He took over from the German as world champion, too. Their paths diverged there. Not since Beckenbauer had any manager reached consecutive World Cup finals. No coach has gone to three in a row. As France’s World Cup begins at the MetLife Stadium in New York, it is with the possibility Deschamps’ last stand will come there, too.