At games, the world sees a different Didier Deschamps. He is animated, agitated even depending on how France are faring. For the rest of the time, especially while talking to the media before and after games, the France coach is the epitome of sangfroid.
With calm that could seem at odds after a final where France see-sawed between victory and defeat, Deschamps said the national team’s future was bright. Lionel Scaloni said as much for Argentina too meaning that the unpredictability of international football notwithstanding, both finalists could have teams that could go deep in tournaments between now and 2026.
“The French team has always had a huge amount of players to choose from,” said Deschamps whose team was only the fifth defending champions to make the final in World Cup history.
“Even if they were young and didn’t have much experience, they proved they could be at a high level. Of course, we always need experienced players to help the younger players. But the recruiting ground for French players is extremely important so that there are always choices. I wasn’t worried before and I am not going to worry now for the future.”
This was after pointing out that France had played the 2016 European championship final, won the World Cup two years later, the Nations League in 2019 and, after the early exit in the European championship in 2021, were back in the final.
This after missing a number of players due to injuries. Paul Pogba, N’ Golo Kante, Presnel Kimpembe, and Christopher Nkunku were not part of World Cup squad because they were injured. After reaching Doha, Karim Benzema, who has since announced his international retirement, pulled out due to injury and Lucas Hernandez tore his anterior cruciate ligament in the opening match against Australia.
France brought a squad whose average age was 26.5 to the World Cup. The average age of 32 squads, where Ghana had the youngest of 24.7 and Iran the oldest at 28.9, was 27. Six players in Deschamps’ starting line-up in Sunday’s final were below 30. At 22, Aurelien Tchouameni was the youngest French player who started – and the only player born in the 2000s – though by the time the penalties came around, Eduardo Camavinga, who is 20, was on the pitch.
That average age for Argentina was 27.8. Like France, they had six players in the starting line-up who were below 30. At 21, Enzo Fernandez was their youngest to start the final. Julian Alvarez is 22 and the only other player in Argentina’s starting line-up who was born in this century.
“We have got plenty of fresh and young lads who want to play,” said Scaloni. Argentina’s “long football tradition”, Scaloni said, it helped him choose the roster. The Argentina coach said he regretted not being able to bring some players who had helped the successful 2021 Copa America – 11 from that roster, including Sergio Aguero who has retired and Giovani Lo Celso who was injured, were not among the 26 in Doha. “The message for me to them is: they have to keep going.”
