From our special correspondent in Hamburg,
With two trains behind Didier Deschamps, who just a few days ago consigned the poor group stage to oblivion with his ready-made phrase “a new competition has begun”, today we actually agree with him. Yes, when we beat Belgium in the eighth and Portugal in the quarter-finals to open the doors to the semi-finals, and this is for the fourth time in five major competitions, excuse me, it is indeed a new competition has begun.
So, from now on, we promise that we will stop talking about the quality of play in this French team not being up to the level of the talent that makes it up. Even if that was the case during this match against the Seleção, especially during the first 45 minutes that made even the chronic insomniac sleep. Anyway, what will change? Nothing, absolutely nothing. This is what Ousmane Dembélé explained to us in the press conference, the man of the match came on in the second half to put the zeboul in the Portuguese defense.
“This year we scored three goals, I think, but we are in the semi-finals and I think the solidity of this team is also what means we are here today. The positive thing is that we create situations to score goals, we can’t score them but there are chances. And then, in the game, it’s like this. We play like this. Those who are not happy, that’s not my problem,” he said in a definitive and direct voice, wearing cowboy boots.
“Everything is not perfect but…”
A few metres away, in the mixed zone, Aurélien Tchouameni gave almost the same speech, with a slight difference: “Whether we deserved it or not, who cares, the most important thing for us is to win,” he said with a smile. “Ear to ear. Of course, everything is not perfect and we have to perform better in all areas of the game, both defensively and offensively. But we will enjoy the match because it was not easy today.”
As they say, we can always demand what we want, deep down these guys do what they want. And if they think this is the way they will have the best chance of making anyone who comes before them bow down, so be it. This generation, fed on the lollipop of father Deschamps since eternity, worships nothing but the result, and so far, by playing this way, they have gone on to beat it, from Euro 2016 to the World Cup in Russia via Qatar.
Because if there's one thing we agree with them on, it's that contrary to what the anti-DDs mutter, going to a major final is not a failure in the strict sense of the word. Otherwise, there are many countries that dream of wallowing in this way.
“After a while, we'll have to score some goals.”
No, what is more problematic at the moment is this damned lack of effectiveness in the last gesture. On Friday night, the Blues again came close to Diogo Costa's goal twenty times, with only five shots on target and no ball. Since the start of the Euros, in five matches, or about 490 minutes on the pitch, including the various stoppages in play and extra time against the Portuguese, the Blues have scored eighty-seven times on target and put three pawns, including two CSC and Pino. So they have not scored the least goal in the match.
A statistic that made Aurélien Tchouameni hallucinate. “We are in the semi-finals without scoring! I think it's historic. But after a while we will have to score.” There is no way to fool you by telling you that we took the time to find out if such a thing had actually happened to a team at this stage of the competition, and that in the entire history of the Euros (we will, promised spit), but we tend to follow the Madridistas on this matter.
Asked at a press conference, Didier Deschamps, whose mood has been increasingly light with the press as the Blues have advanced in the competition, wanted to set the record straight. “We are still scoring,” he said. “Even if it is CSC… I hope this is not a way of telling me that our place is usurped! We have a fundamental solidity in the big competition.”
In the “euphoria” of the qualifiers, as Mbappé, who spent some time in the mixed zone on Friday evening, put it, the players were not focused on this unlikely statistic at all. “I don't want to tell you nonsense: in the dressing room, we weren't telling ourselves that we didn't score a goal in the game, but yes, we will look at the question during that to maintain this defensive solidity.”
Winning without scoring you filthy bastard guys?
And then, at the point where we get to, honestly, does it really matter? When you have a defence as solid as the Blues’ and a goalkeeper who is impressive in all aspects of the game, we saw that again against the Portuguese with those three brutal saves from Mike Maignan – “the cream of the crop”, according to The Sun. Tchouameni – in the space of 180 seconds, does it really matter that you score goals? Didier Deschamps (or Jean-Michel Evidence, we don’t know anymore) replied: “When you score a few goals, it’s better not to score any.” That’s not to say I don’t like better efficiency.
But it could still come from our dear friend CSC, who almost made it on Friday night, after that Kolo Muani shot saved by Ruben Dias. It won't be too late to land on Tuesday against Spain. A good ball hit Cucurella's leg after 90 minutes spent resisting the attacks of the gentle Roja team, and the penalty shootout was decided like clockwork in the final against Switzerland, and the melody was full of weight. We must admit that it would not be lacking a certain charm to see Deschamps's concrete mixer spread its joy across Europe without putting the slightest pawn in the game. So, shall we try it, gentlemen?
