Courtesy of Kaan 11 – the official broadcaster of the 2022 World Cup. Live broadcasts, summaries, statistics and more await you on Kaan’s World Cup page
Apparently in France they prefer to be original, and not succumb to passing trends. While we said goodbye to the Belgian and German national teams at home, Spain vacated their place already in the round of 16 and Brazil and Portugal found themselves on the wrong side of the surprises, Didier Deschamps’ team continued on, and in one of the best football matches seen on Qatar soil, reached the semi-finals of the World Cup for the second time in a row And after winning, another senior claimant to the crown – England is loaded with expectations and the confession of disappointments.
Still, even though she comes to this World Cup as one of the best teams in the world and reigning world champion, the tricolor’s achievement is far from obvious, and not just because we got surprises in this World Cup. Because, after all, how many national teams do you know that lost to injuries the Ballon d’Or winner and top scorer of the Spanish league, the top scorer of the Bundesliga, the two team players in defense and two in midfield, and yet reach a situation two games away from another win in the most glittering trophy of all? However, France, as one of the top production lines in the world for elite footballers, managed to find the heroic replacements and, ironically, reached this position precisely against one of the few teams that has a deeper squad than its own.
Unlike many previous tournaments, you really can’t say a bad word about England. Gareth Southgate’s team produced one of their best performances of the 21st century in a major tournament, if not their best. Although she did it with quality team play, possessed the ball and was better for quite a few minutes, Deschamps’ team relied on her talent and individual ability, and in the end it worked for her. Kylian Mbappe closed? There is Antoine Griezmann. The focus on the Atletico striker? No problem, Olivier Giroud is here too. Oh, is it saved too? Well, it seems there is no choice and Orlian Tshoumani will have to launch a ball from 30 meters into Jordan Pickford’s net to gain an advantage. Because whether you like it or not, national team soccer has its own rules, and meanwhile, it’s working quite well for the Blues.
Because despite the changes, the French defense continues to provide stability. Because despite the injuries, Tshuamani shows that he manages to live up to expectations and be the host in the link (yes, despite that penalty). Because Griezmann’s conversion to midfielder is so successful, to the extent that he scored both of France’s goals, becoming their all-time top scorer. Because even without Karim Benzema, Olivier Giroud will be there to cause trouble for the English defense and score the winning goal.
And we must dwell on Giroud, who in 2018 was seen by many as a freak of nature, and there were even those who doubted the importance of his part in France’s victory. After all, what kind of striker 9 of the world champions finishes the tournament without even one goal? Not from a return ball, not a pusher, not even a penalty. But back to the present, in 2022, we get a completely different Giro, in a simply dream World Cup. It started with a brace in the first game against Australia, continued with a goal against Poland that made him France’s all-time leading scorer above a legend like Thierry Henry, and last night he scored a great winning goal with a strike that equaled victory over England. He already has four goals in Qatar, and there is no doubt that his physicality will be decisive against a team like Morocco.
When you see how important he is to Didier Deschamps’ attack, it’s a little hard to believe that a little over a month ago his call-up to the World Cup was in great doubt, even though he eventually entered the squad as Benzema’s replacement. Since then, the captain of Real Madrid managed to get injured, and you already know what happened next. Perhaps it is still safe to say that, in retrospect, the Ballon d’Or winner’s injury was not so terrible for France. Despite the successful cooperation on and off the field with Mbappe, the French national team did not really impress in the last year, and with Giroud’s return to the side, it returned to reminding of better days. Of course, the positive turn cannot be attributed only to the absence of Benzema, and it is possible that with him the world champion was in a similar situation. After all, it cannot be ignored that when comparing the two as individuals, there is no doubt that he surpasses the Milan striker.
In national team football in general and this World Cup in particular, we have witnessed quite a bit the importance of a national team as a whole greater than the sum of its parts. And in France, which traditionally knows how to destroy itself from the inside in such situations through ego and camp, perhaps it is better to stick to the consolidation that has already succeeded, especially in light of the reports that some of the players of the national team were not really hurt by Benzema’s departure, to say the least. Because in the end, for better or for worse, France is a team of stars. And as the number of stars increases, so does the ego level and the explosiveness in the dressing room rise accordingly. This was true in the Los Angeles Lakers of Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant, in the first Galacticos project of Real Madrid, and of course in several incarnations of the tricolor. So, for the avoidance of doubt, the goal is not to claim that Benzema is a problematic and self-important striker, but perhaps simply less suited to the current fabric of France.
And back to the game. There is no doubt that of all the four quarter finals, we got the most enjoyable, highest quality meeting, with two teams that trust themselves and their offensive abilities, and also act accordingly. No digs, no fear of daring and even no atmosphere that gets heated and slips into unsportsmanlike lines, even though we are dealing with two nations with a glorious history and a rivalry that is far beyond the realms of football. In other words, everything that national teams play at the major levels would like to be, and in the eyes of many was a final for everything. Pleasure right? Well, get ready to say goodbye to it, because you probably won’t get another one like this in Qatar 2022.
Because on Wednesday, France will meet a team that advocates slightly different principles. Without, of course, underestimating the enormous achievement of Morocco (and it is enormous, yes? Don’t have any doubt), it is expected to present football that is a little less reminiscent of the one we saw from England, and more in the style of “Ah La Simeone”, as defined by the goalkeeper of the Atlas Lions team, Yassin Bono. Even in the semi-final the day before, between Argentina and Croatia, at least one of the sides will show a similar attitude, and the loss is of course entirely ours. So it could be that despite the romance and momentary excitement, maybe surprises aren’t really worth the price?