Where does France’s ‘Griezmann Generation’ go from here?
PARIS: Tipped to emulate France’s 1984 European champions and 1998 World Cup winners, the ‘Griezmann Generation’s bitter Euro 2016 final defeat by Portugal will take some getting over. After sweeping past world champions Germany in the semifinals, the stage was set for Antoine Griezmann and his teammates to lead France to a third major tournament triumph on home soil.
But despite losing Cristiano Ronaldo to a first-half knee injury, Portugal prevailed 1-0 courtesy of Eder’s extra-time strike at Stade de France on Sunday, bringing Didier Deschamps’s side to their knees.
“This squad has a big future, but we should have won this Euro and we didn’t,” said Griezmann, who finished as the tournament’s top scorer. “We are very sad, a bit annoyed, but that’s football. Sometimes it gives, sometimes it takes away. ”
While France’s defeat crushed the dreams of a nation, it at least had the merit not to be accompanied by the player controversies that have plagued the team in tournaments past.
FRANCE’S PRIDE INTACT France notoriously went on strike at the 2010 World Cup in protest at the expulsion of striker Nicolas Anelka for insulting coach Raymond Domenech, while several players were punished for bad behaviour at Euro 2012.
But Deschamps, who succeeded Laurent Blanc in 2012, Paris: Didier Deschamps will remain as coach of France and lead them into the looming 2018 World Cup qualifying campaign despite their stunning upset by Portugal in the European Championship final. “The disappointment is there and it’s immense,” Deschamps said after the 1-0 defeat. “We’ve let a big chance to be
has succeeded in repairing the team’s image and since overturning a 2-0 deficit to beat Ukraine in a qualifying playoff ahead of the 2014 World Cup, they have enjoyed a high level of popularity in France.
Deschamps made a bold pretournament decision to drop Karim Benzema over a blackmail scandal. It was a move that was vindicated as France, spearheaded by Griezmann, romped to the final, only to fall short at champions pass us by.” But the 47-year-old, who won the World Cup and European Championship as captain of France, has no intention of quitting. His contract runs through the 2018 World Cup in Russia. “It is lined up like that. I am not going to think about myself. I will need time to digest everything,” he said.
the last hurdle.
Griezmann was the tournament’s unquestionable poster boy. Other young players to catch the eye included 22-year-old Samuel Umtiti, the Barcelona centre-back, and 20-year-old winger Kingsley Coman, who made a lively cameo in the final.
Newcastle United’s Moussa Sissoko and West Ham United’s Dimitri Payet also staked strong claims for permanent roles in the starting XI.