Embarrassment of riches for manager Deschamps divides opinion in France
▶ Selection of Giroud ahead of Benzema and Martial has not been well received by fans as Les Bleus take on Italy in friendly, writes Ian Hawkey
What chance would you give a team with these credentials of winning the World Cup? It would have full-backs from Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain, plus two central defenders from Manchester City, all clubs fresh from bullish, title-winning campaigns.
Midfield could be anchored by another PSG stalwart, and lent its guile by the player with most assists in European football this year.
On the flanks, there would be savvy and speed from two Bayern Munich stars, bearing their latest Bundesliga medals, and up front a young man from Manchester United who was not so long ago their costliest teenager. His partner? The Real Madrid centre-forward who now has four European Cups, and scored in the latest final and the semi.
Put names to that outfield 10, and it reads: Digne, Kurzawa, Mangala, Laporte; Rabiot, with the 2018 king of assists Dmitri Payet; Ribery, Coman, Martial and Benzema.
And none of them made the France World Cup squad. OK, you might regard the defence as a little middleweight but any country that can live without the attacking talent possessed by the likes of Payet, Franck Ribery and Karim Benzema, Anthony Martial and Kingsley Coman must be in a strong position.
Didier Deschamps, the France manager, has agonised over many of his choices for the 23 to take to his second World Cup and knows there are many in France who regard his current set of resources as stronger than the group of players he won the World Cup alongside, as captain, 20 summers ago. He has looked for balance and some flexibility. If he regrets the late-season injury setbacks to defender Laurent Koscielny and the mercurial Payet that made them hard to call up, he knows that, should France fall short of at least a stylish semi-final at the World Cup, he will be accused of squandering a deep talent pool.
France have a prestigious warm-up game Itoday in Nice, Italy the visitors in a fixture resonant of triumphs and near-misses in the recent past.
Les Bleus beat the Azzurri on penalties on the way to their 1998 World Cup win. They defeated them again to win the final of the European Championship two years later, and lost a World Cup final to the Italians via spot-kicks in 2006. None of those scenarios will be repeated in Russia, because Italy will not be there.
There is still an edge to the Nice meeting, though, with Roberto Mancini establishing his authority and ideas as Italy’s new manager, and considerable local interest in the recalled Mario Balotelli, back after a long absence and again in the city where he has enjoyed two happy seasons. His 43 goals in 66 games for Nice are an uplift from his barren spell at Liverpool, from whom Nice signed him.
There will be cheers this evening for Balotelli from some Nicois, although he will likely leave the French club this summer, out of contract.
Quite what sort of reception awaits Olivier Giroud is another question. The Chelsea forward, whose 31st goal for France on his 72nd appearance, against Republic of Ireland on Monday equalled the great Zinedine Zidane’s goalscoring tally for France. Yet, there were boos by the French public when his name was read out.
At issue, the notion is that Giroud’s place in France’s plans is at Benzema’s expense.However, it seems certain Benzema will never again be selected by Deschamps, their relationship damaged after the manager and player clashed in 2016.
There is also criticism of Giroud’s style, pure target-man and conspicuously different from the speed and technically sophisticated characteristics of his fellow strikers in Deschamps’ squad – Antoine Griezmann, Kylian Mbappe, Ousmane Dembele, Nabil Fekir and Florian Thauvin.
Mbappe, the PSG teenager, this week found himself having to stick up for Giroud, the 31 year old. “We have a striker who has scored as many goals for France as Zidane,” Mbappe said. “That has to be respected. Yes, Olivier is not always the most spectacular player, but he is so effective.
“He scores in almost every game for France these days, and he does the grubby work, defending, getting forward and scoring goals.”
Mbappe likes playing off Giroud, and the Chelsea forward has also been a fine foil for Griezmann, who is a certain starter for Deschamps.
“I cannot pick everyone,” shrugs the manager, “but it is nice to have so many good options.”