QUIET KANTE CONTINUES LIVING HIS DREAM IN BLUE
BLUE is definitely the colour for the discreet N’Golo Kante, now shining for France on the pitches of Euro 2016 after playing a key role in Leicester City’s fairytale run to the Premier League title in England.
The pocket-sized midfielder played his first game for France only three months ago, as a substitute in a 3-2 win over the Netherlands. A few days later he started a game against Russia, celebrating his 25th birthday with a goal in a 4-2 victory.
French fans were impressed and welcomed the rise of Kante, and were not surprised when coach Didier Deschamps included him in his 23-man squad for Euro 2016.
However, Kante only emerged as an option as a first-choice player in a new role – as a holding midfielder in front of the defence – when Lassana Diarra had to pull out injured.
He took his chances and his performances in France’s opening wins over Romania and Albania convinced Deschamps that he had made the right choice.
Winning many balls and hardly missing a pass, Kante offered a reassuring presence in a team whose main weakness is clearly at the back.
“It’s astonishing how quickly he has adapted to this new role,” said fellow midfielder Blaise Matuidi. “He’s calm, his passing is accurate and he reads the game well. To me, he’s one of the great midfielders in Europe.”
It was a very different story four years ago. When Euro 2012 started, Kante was miles away from international football, warming up for a season in the French third division with his unglamorous Boulogne-sur-Mer club.
“I certainly could not imagine then what’s happening now,” he said in his trademark soft, almost childish, voice. “I don’t have any explanation nor any secret. I just work hard to do the best I can.”
Kante made a few headlines in France last year when, after two convincing seasons with modest Ligue 1 side Caen, he declined an offer from Olympique Lyon and decided instead to move to Leicester.
“You should ask him why he is joining a lowly English club when he could be playing in the Champions League with us,” Lyon chairman Jean-Michel Aulas said at the time.
The rest is history, Kante playing a fine part in the Foxes’ amazing season. He emerged as a serious candidate for the national team and a target for leading European clubs.
Now linked with a move to glitzy Paris St Germain, he is not losing his cool and is fully concentrating on his current adventure with France.
“A lot of things are being said but I’m not paying too much attention,” he said. “For the moment, I’m a Leicester player.”
Meanwhile, France will increasingly lean on the playing experience of their manager Deschamps as they seek to emulate his success on the international stage at the European Championships.
Deschamps, who succeeded Laurent Blanc as the national team manager in 2012, captained France to World Cup glory on home soil in 1998 and won the Euros two years later.
Unbeaten in this year’s tournament, Les Bleus topped Group A with seven points, and will play the Republic of Ireland in the round-of-16 game tomorrow.
“When things are going well on the pitch, it is because I know I have the coach behind me,” midfielder Dimitri Payet told Uefa’s website this week.
“The fact he has won everything going is the advantage that he brings us.
“He knows exactly what it takes to win as he has been there before. We know how precious his advice is and how much more so that will be as the tournament goes on.”
The 29-year-old, who scored two crucial goals in the group stages, said midfielder Paul Pogba and striker Antoine Griezmann remained the hosts’ most influential players, even though many regard the West Ham United midfielder as the side’s best player in the tournament so far.
“People will still talk about Antoine Griezmann and Paul Pogba. We saw them in the game against Switzerland, and they are the ones to be counted on,” he said.
“We need those two players. They can guide us through and deep into the competition.” – Reuters