Special envoy to Marseille
Last match for the Blues this Tuesday evening at the Vélodrome stadium during this international sequence in March. After the defeat against Germany on Saturday evening (0-2), the France team must bounce back against Chile, before switching at the end of May to preparation for the Euro (June 14-July 14). A meeting to follow with our colleagues from TF1 from 9 p.m., but also live with commentary on our Figaro site, with information from our special correspondent in Marseille.
Since Saturday evening and the non-match against the Mannschaft, the Blues have all had the same words. “Slap”, “failed evening”, “booster shot”… Elements of language heard in Tchouaméni, Giroud, Samba or even Pavard and Rabiot. Behind the scenes, Didier Deschamps refocused his troops in a video session on Sunday, recalling the “ruthless” side of the high level. At a press conference on Monday, he refused to go into detail, finding certain analyzes “radical”. Present before the media before his coach, Kylian did not shy away from the questions, ensuring that he had “no problem taking responsibility for the failures”.
And the captain of the Blues said a little more about what went wrong on Saturday: “the leadership was faulty but we were overwhelmed in a lot of aspects. Tactics, physics, motivation… We have to realize that if we play like that in the matches that await us, we are going to face big disappointments.
However, he also wanted to downplay this evening. Without falling into catastrophism. “There were competitions where in the matches before, we took some beatings and in the end we had great competitions. There were competitions where we won our friendly matches and we returned home very quickly like in 2021 (elimination in the round of 16 against Switzerland). Friendly matches give indications but there is no truth.”
The defeat against Germany changes nothing. In an XXL calendar, with championship matches from Friday and the European Cups in two weeks, Didier Deschamps had planned to rotate his team extensively during the two matches in March. He will not deviate from his plans. Nine changes are expected. Only Aurélien Tchouaméni and Kylian Mbappé survive this major facelift. In goal, Mike Maignan will replace Brice Samba, with a four-man defense made up of Clauss and Théo Hernandez on the sides, Saliba-Konaté in the center. In the middle, Fofana and Camavinga will supervise Tchouaméni. In front, Mbappé will be accompanied by Giroud in the axis and Kolo Muani on the right.
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It’s very likely. Sunday takes place the Classic between OM and PSG, inevitably the welcome of the captain of the Blues and star of the sworn enemy risks making noise Tuesday evening. The main party expects it. “No matter what reception I receive, I will give the best of myself,” he admits without batting an eyelid. To be honest, I would understand if I was whistled at. There is a clasico on Sunday, I am a PSG player. If I get whistled, that’s life, I wouldn’t take it personally. But if I don’t get whistled, I’ll be pleasantly surprised. Just goes to show that in life, we can have good surprises.” Asked about the whistles towards his attacker, but also Randal Kolo Muani expected to start against Chile, Didier Deschamps, former player and coach of OM, wants to bring people together. “I dare to hope that for those who have not worn this (OM) jersey, I have no illusions but it would be good if they (the supporters) were all unanimously behind the OM team. France.”
The victory last Friday in Albania (0-3) does not erase Chile’s recent and disappointing results. La “Roja” (“red” in Spanish) got off to a bad start in its qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup. It lost against Uruguay (3-1), Venezuela (3-0) and Ecuador ( 1-0) last year. Coach Eduardo Berizzo resigned after a draw against Paraguay on November 17 (0-0), replaced by Argentine coach Ricardo Gareca. Chile is 42nd in the FIFA rankings, its worst position since 2008. There are four centenarians who still wear the red tunic of Chile: Eduardo Vargas (106 caps), Mauricio Isla (132), Claudio Bravo (145) and Alexis Sanchez ( 160). The latter, a former OM striker, will equal record holder Gary Medel (161). Sanchez, 35 years old and a substitute at Inter Milan, is also the top scorer in the history of the Chilean selection (51 goals), ahead of Vargas (41).
