Marshal Deschamps, the World Cup specialist who is capable of taming Mbappé’s ego

There are many ways to approach the trajectory of a soccer man. Through his constancy, his achievements, his records, his temperament, his ambition, his legacy. Deschamps excels in any of the angles with which you want to evaluate him and, even measured with the most demanding standards, he manages to occupy privileged places.

He is one of three people to have won the World Cup both as a player and as a manager, a position he shares with Franz Beckenbauer and Mario Zagallo. But he is also one of the only 3 people in history, this time with the Kaiser and Iker Casillas, who has won the World Cup, Euro Cup and Champions League wearing the captain’s armband. He now has two more challenges to overcome with France. The first is to defend the 2018 trophy, something that has not been achieved since Brazil did so in 1962. The second is to tie the mark of Vittorio Pozzo, who led two-time champion Italy in the highly controversial tournaments of 1934 and 1938.

It is not an easy task, but Deschamps has weapons in his favor. The main one is that it is one of the two teams with the most abundance of talent (the other is Brazil, already eliminated), to the point that injuries and absences do not significantly impoverish it. The other great tool is that it has one of the two excluding cracks of this cup (Mbappé, together with Messi). But managing wealth, as well as diversity, can be very difficult for the Gauls. Lemerre demonstrated it in 2002, and in an absolutely embarrassing way, Domenech in South Africa 2010.

Deschamps seems to be made of another wood. Human management has been carried out solidly, despite the fact that problems have not been lacking: it did without Benzema in 2018 in order to unite the group and has weathered the problems around Pogba (allegedly extorted by his brother) and Mbappé, whose ego is demanding, quite well. France, despite the absences, does not seem like a team about to collapse, but rather a team that thrives on difficulties. The leadership of Tchoumeni and Rabiot has been unexpected, as is the new air of Dembélé, much more energetic with Les Bleus than with Barça. The tutelary figures of Lloris and Giroud, each one at one end of the field, provide seniority and security to a scheme in which Griezmann bustles.

And this, perhaps, is the coach’s great tactical success. The previous drawing places him as the second striker, behind the 9th boxer, but in reality Griezmann works with pragmatic freedom: initiates high pressing when required, functions as a box-to-box midfielder throughout the match, distributes to wingers as a creative midfielder, à la Pirlo, and also steps into the box to finish off attacks. What is remarkable is that this versatility has not dented his offensive function: until the round of 16 he was the one who created the most chances (above Messi) and the one who shot the most crosses, the last of which has given them qualification for the semifinals. He will no longer be the goalscoring forward that he used to be at Real Sociedad and Atlético de Madrid, but he is at the service of a greater cause, the team.

That is the great virtue of Deschamps: he knew how to transmit his character and his capacity for sacrifice to a group of stars, all millionaires and celebrities, whose victories in clubs and the national team could have already appeased their thirst for glory. As has been seen against England, it has not been like that. He wants more. They want more.