Fear of failure to motivate France’s stars against Australia
With a group of players worth more than a billion dollars, anything other than a win against Australia will be deemed as a failure for France in its World Cup opener.
The amount of individual talent within the France squad is impressive, including players such as Paul Pogba, Ousmane Dembele, Kylian Mbappe, Nabil Fekir, and Antoine Griezmann.
Having such star power assembled in Russia would be a dream for most coaches. For Didier Deschamps, it looks more like a headache.
France’s identity of play remains unclear as Les Bleus prepare to open Group C against Australia in Kazan. Many questions remain about the team’s capacity to play as a unit during the tournament, 20 years after a French team led by Zinedine Zidane was crowned World Cup champion.
“We’ve got a great group, with great individual players,” midfielder Blaise Matuidi said. “But we will need to use all these qualities for the benefit of the group. Having the best talents is not enough to go all the way. We will need soldiers, fighters.”
In 1998, France based its success on solid defending. In 2006, when Les Bleus finished runners-up to Italy in Berlin, the individual brilliance of Zidane was key, but that team is widely remembered for the relentless press it imposed on its rivals during the knockout phase.
This squad has not developed the same qualities since reaching the final of the European Championship two years ago. Despite all their talent, Les Bleus have struggled for consistency and often appeared vulnerable in World Cup qualifying. They have no reason to be overconfident.
Deschamps has tried several tactical options in the buildup to the tournament, including a diamond midfield 4-42 system with Olivier Giroud and Mbappe up front, and a 4-3-3 with Mbappe, Griezmann and Ousmane Dembele deployed in attack.
After successive wins against Ireland and Italy, France was held to a 1-1 draw by a mediocre United States team in its last warmup game last week. During that game, France missed several chances, defended poorly and clearly lacked explosiveness and speed.
Australia prepared for the tournament with two wins in its last friendlies but is not expected to get plenty of chances against France. The Socceroos will focus on defending well to avoid a repeat of their 4-0 loss to Germany in their opening game in South Africa eight years ago.
This is the approach advocated by their coach Bert van Marwijk, who led Netherlands to the 2010 World Cup final. He is on a short-term contract to replace of Ange Postecoglou, who quit after guiding the Australians through Asian qualifying.