If England’s excuse for their inept performances is Gareth Southgate, what explains France’s failure to come to life at this month’s European Championships? World Cup winners in 2018 and runners-up in 2022, the French were one of the pre-match favourites going into the tournament. They’ve been even worse than England, finishing second in group D having won once and drawn twice against mediocre opposition. They’ve scored just two goals, and one of them was an own goal from an Austrian.
Something is clearly not functioning within the French team
Yet this is a settled squad under the same coach, Didier Deschamps, who led them to World Cup glory six years ago. Several players from that tournament are still around, world-class talent such as Kylian Mbappe, Antoine Griezmann, N’Golo Kante and Olivier Giroud. Many of the French fans who have made the trip to Germany expressed their dismay after Tuesday night’s 1-1 draw with Poland. It’s not the coach, so much as the players, who, as one disgruntled fan complained, don’t appear ‘engaged’.
In defence of the French squad, it’s not been the smoothest of preparations for them. Emmanuel Macron called a snap election five days before the tournament started, and many of the French press pack have seemed more interested in the players’ political opinions than their footballing form.
The interrogation of the players’ voting intentions at the daily press conferences became so insistent that the French Football Federation (FFF) issued a statement requesting that questions relate only to football. ‘It is necessary to avoid any form of pressure and political use of the France team,’ said the FFF. ‘It also wants its neutrality as an institution, as well as that of the national team for which it is responsible, to be understood and respected by all.’
By the time the FFF issued its statement, several players had already aired their views about the upcoming parliamentary elections. Marcus Thuram had urged the French to ‘fight daily’ against Marine Le Pen’s National Rally, a message echoed by Ousmane Dembélé. Asked by a journalist about the ‘racist’ National Rally, Dembélé said their success in the European elections had rung ‘alarm bells’ and people must get out and vote.
Mbappe and Aurélien Tchouaméni have warned the French to avoid voting for ‘extremes’ that will divide the country. Mbappe, who has a warm friendship with Emmanuel Macron, was praised by Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, the government’s minister of ports, for his ‘exemplary’ words.
Some players have refrained from offering any political advice, other than recommending that people exercise their right to vote, notably Griezmann, Giroud, Adrien Rabiot and Benjamin Pavard. ‘Politics is complicated and a private matter, I think,’ said Griezmann. His sister was at the Bataclan theatre on the evening of 13 November, 2015, when it was attacked by an Islamist terror cell. Eighty-six people were murdered but she survived, although the experience left deep psychological scars.
The mother of Rabiot was recently burgled at her home west of Paris. That is not unusual. Burglary is one of the crimes that has soared under the presidency of Emmanuel Macron. Figures released this week revealed a 14 per cent increase in the last 12 months; a home is now burgled every three minutes in France. Thirty-eight per cent of burglars are foreign, the majority between the ages of 16 and 24.
Giroud is a practising Christian, who has spoken of the importance of his Catholic faith as a man and a footballer. When he was asked about his elections on the eve of the Euros, he brushed away the question: ‘I’m not going to give any details about my political leanings or anything else,’ said the former Arsenal striker. ‘I’m here to talk football and that’s all.’
Giroud was also asked if the political chaos had affected the team’s preparation. He said it hadn’t. Something, however, is clearly not functioning within the French team. They look listless and disjointed. Perhaps they’re tired at the end of a long season.
The French Football Federation will be praying there is not a repeat of 2010, when some of the squad mutinied during the World Cup in South Africa. It was later claimed they had ‘fragmented over the lack of the football team’s national identity.’
When Macron visited the squad at the start of the month to wish them well at the Euros he urged them ‘to be the face that you have shown every time in the great moments, that is to say united’. Five days later the president called the snap election and threw France into turmoil. The country hasn’t been so divided for decades. Maybe the French squad is a microcosm of that disunity.
France have the footballing talent to turn it around and reach the final in Berlin on 14 July. Bastille Day! What an occasion that would be for the country, and for Macron, who would no doubt fly to Germany to cheer on his boys. Provided he’s still president.
Comments