Mbappé named as France’s new captain by Deschamps
PARIS, March 22, (AP): World Cup top scorer Kylian Mbappé was named as France’s new captain on Tuesday, succeeding goalkeeper Hugo Lloris.
France coach Didier Deschamps made the announcement in a short video clip which is set to be aired on soccer show Téléfoot.
“It will be Kylian Mbappé and Antoine Griezmann will be vice-captain. Kylian ticks all the boxes to take on this responsibility, given what he does and will continue to do on the field,” Deschamps told Téléfoot. “And because he’s a unifying link between the youngest, the not so young and the oldest players. That’s why I made this choice but it’s not to the detriment of Antoine, because Antoine will also have an important responsibility.”
Griezmann, who turned 32 on Tuesday, has played 117 games for France and the forward is regarded as being very close to Deschamps.
The 24-year-old Mbappé will captain France against the Netherlands at Stade de France on Friday when qualifying starts for next year’s European Championship. France then plays Ireland in Dublin on Monday.
Mbappé scored eight goals at last year’s World Cup in Qatar, where he became only the second player to score a hat trick in the final, taking his tally to 36 goals in 66 matches for Les Bleus of which 12 have been scored in World Cups. France lost on penalty kicks to Lionel Messi’s Argentina in Qatar following a wild 3-3 draw.
This season, Mbappé became French champion Paris Saint-Germain’s all-time leading scorer after overtaking Edinson Cavani and has 202 goals for the club in 250 games.
Lloris and central defender Raphaël Varane, who won the 2018 World Cup alongside Mbappé, announced their retirements from international play after France lost the 2022 final.
It’s a new era for Portugal as it begins European Championship qualifying under a new coach and with Cristiano Ronaldo far away from soccer’s biggest stadiums.
SOCCER
Portugal starts its Euro 2024 qualifying campaign at home against Liechtenstein in Group J on Thursday, with Roberto Martínez debuting as coach and Ronaldo still in the squad.
It will be Ronaldo’s first appearance with Portugal since leaving Europe for Saudi club Al Nassr after a mostly disappointing stint with Manchester United. He is set to break the all-time record of appearances with a national team after tying Bader Al-Mutawa’s mark of 196 outings for Kuwait during last year’s World Cup.
Martínez is taking over Fernando Santos, who quit in December after Portugal’s elimination by Morocco in the quarterfinals of the World Cup. Santos left amid the controversy of benching Ronaldo in the knockout stage of the tournament in Qatar.
Santos was in charge of Portugal for eight years, leading the national team to the Euro 2016 title - the country’s first major trophy and the 2019 Nations League title. He reached an agreement with the federation to leave two years before his contract was to end.
Martínez ended his six-year stint with Belgium after the team’s disappointing group-stage elimination at the World Cup. He arrived pledging to respect Ronaldo’s history with the national team.
In addition to Ronaldo, Martínez will inherit a squad filled with talented players such as Bernardo Silva, Bruno Fernandes, Diogo Jota, Gonçalo Ramos and João Félix. The coach made few changes to the squad, with 40-year-old defender Pepe also returning to play alongside the 38-year-old Ronaldo.
“We were briefly introduced to him on the training field,” Félix said about Martínez. “He explained to us some of his ideas, mainly for these two games, which are going to be very similar. He talked about the attacking dynamic, the connections between wingers and strikers.”