It took a lot of willpower not to put France dd ‘Les Bleus-print’ in the headline, but the first paragraph will have to serve.
France is back in the World Cup final and third in the previous four major competitions.
The reigning world champions return to the platform they have become used to, having defeated the Atlas Lions in a crisp 2-0 triumph at the Al Bayt Stadium in Morocco.
When France grabbed a fifth-minute lead via Theo Hernandez, many expected them to do their typical thing: sit back and take the sting out of what might have been a furious game.
That is, for the most part, what occurred.
Les Bleus had to survive an intense but ultimately ineffective Moroccan storm before Randal Kolo Muani scored a second late on. Hugo Lloris’ best save was a gentle brush of an overhead kick from Jawad El Yamiq a few inches to his right into the post. The North Africans were frequently too frenetic in their thinking when getting into those precarious positions due to France’s defensive power.
That is not to diminish Morocco’s importance. They fought as hard as possible and will go down in history as the first African country to reach the World Cup semi-finals.
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But they ran into the deserving champions, the lads with the title belt wrapped around their collective waist, a near-immovable object with telling quality in both boxes.
Didier Deschamps has been chastised for his conservative approach, but in the last six years, he has accomplished everything he could. France will have won at least silver in this World Cup, in addition to Euro 2016, and gold in Russia in 2018.
With only a few weeks with his ever-changing squad each season, Deschamps’ mission is to be in peak condition for seven games every two years. Qualification comes easily because he has created a professionalism utterly lacking in prior generations at Clairefontaine.
France is no longer a team on the verge of a catastrophe but one standing on the shoulders of giants.
As predicted, Kylian Mbappe has been one of the finest players in this World Cup. Still, their success has also been built on the reinvention and resurgence of old favorites like Antoine Griezmann, Olivier Giroud, and Hugo Lloris. Aurelien Tchouameni and Ibrahima Konate also have quickly into the system.
France is unfazed going into Sunday’s final against Argentina. They’ve been there and done that, with the majority of their core having already withstood the expectations of being world champions – the same cannot be said of Lionel Messi and La Albiceleste, and that will play a role as the week goes on.
Every country on the earth would exchange their most recent six years of international football for France’s. Regardless of how it ends, this period has been a resounding success.
