The transalpine media highlight some difficulties that could emerge shortly on the pitch at the World Cup. The Les Bleus coach smiles, however, because he keeps everyone in suspense and with a high level of tension
It will be the criticism of Mbappé as a center forward who, by playing in that role, “weakens” the Ballon d’Or winner Dembélé. It will be the climatic conditions that make it more difficult to best express one’s potential. Or the tiredness at the end of the season which, despite giving the Champions League and great emotions to various elements of PSG, took energy away from the players’ muscles. The fact remains that the belief that had spread in France, and in France, after the two friendly matches in March won in the United States against Brazil and Colombia, is now no longer there: it won’t be an easy World Cup, or if you prefer a walk in the park, and the Bleus don’t have two teams both capable of winning it. Of course, the squad is considered strong and well equipped, but the first days of training camp in Boston have made it clear that it will be a battle. In every meeting. The perception of what awaits Mbappé and his teammates has changed and probably the happiest of all this is coach Deschamps.
criticism of France
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In March, in the successes over Brazil (2-1) and Colombia (3-1), France had shown enormous potential and with the 26 players called up they could field two equivalent teams: Barcola, Mbappé and Dembélé in a trident, Olise, Cherki, Doué behind Mateta in the case of 4-2-3-1; however, leaving Thuram out… Too much enthusiasm. Since then Olise has further raised his level of play and scored three goals in the last friendly, Dembélé scored the decisive goal to take PSG to penalties and therefore to win the Champions League, Cherki shone for City, Mateta sealed Crystal Palace’s Conference League victory with one of his goals. So what? However, Mbappé is no longer himself and is struggling to find himself because he ended the season with Real without titles; up front Dembélé will be forced not to play as a new player as he loves at PSG, the competition on the wings pushes Barcola and Thuram to the bench; plus the game is less fluid, there are bruises (Saliba and Theo Hernandez) and many have muscles weighed down by the many matches played in 2025-26. It’s not easy to manage everything…
Deschamps doesn’t mind
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A worrying situation? For public opinion yes, and it is no coincidence that L’Equipe talked about it at length today, but not for Deschamps who actually feared too much security at the beginning of spring. Thus the coach can preach humility, make the media’s criticisms read and invite the players to keep the tension high even in their world debut against Senegal on Tuesday or against an opponent who is affordable on paper. DD is at his last dance with France given that at the end of the World Cup he will probably leave the bench to Zidane and he knows that starting as super favorite for France would have been dangerous. Les Bleus remain among the favourites, but are no longer unbeatable. One more weapon to exploit. More than a weakness. The old fox Deschamps is rubbing his hands and is ready to only benefit from no longer being considered… unbeatable.
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