Didier Deschamps was smiling, but he also had a few messages to get across. After France qualified for the World Cup quarter-finals against Paraguay, the Bleus coach admitted it had been a complicated, tense match, sometimes right on the edge in terms of physical commitment. But for him, the most important thing was elsewhere: France are still there.
“I feel the pleasure of being qualified once again for the quarter-finals after a complicated match,” Didier Deschamps said. The coach even believes this kind of game can be useful for his squad. According to him, Les Bleus had made their previous matches easier, but this time they had to learn how to suffer.
A Tough and Valuable Test for France
Didier Deschamps did not want to openly criticize the refereeing or Paraguay, but he still suggested that the game had been particularly heated. He mentioned insults coming from the opposing bench, provocations, and a final spell in which France mainly had to keep their nerve. For the France coach, this match can help his team grow, especially with several players discovering the more closed, nervous and unpredictable side of World Cup football for the first time.
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The France coach also admitted that Les Bleus could have done more with the ball. Against a very deep Paraguay side, France sometimes lacked speed, impact and accuracy in transition. The heat in Philadelphia also played a major role, with Deschamps explaining that high temperatures hurt a team that wants to play, dribble and accelerate more than one defending in a low block.
Deschamps also defended Kylian Mbappé. Asked about the maturity of his captain, he dismissed the sometimes authoritarian image attached to him. “He hasn’t changed, you make him out to be a dictator,” he said. According to Deschamps, Mbappé mainly speaks on behalf of the group and passes on the players’ concerns, which are not always his own. The next challenge already looks intense, with a quarter-final against Morocco, a team Deschamps described as one of the best in the world.
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