De notre envoyé spécial à Boston,
It was September 19, 2025 and we were reassured. Asked during the traditional teacher/parents meeting at the start of the school year to find out how she “felt” the class, our child’s teacher was rather convincing: “It’s going well, they have great energy, it’s a good group,” she said in substance. Nine months later, the results are terrible: fights in the classroom, teacher on leave, children demobilized, outraged parents…
We hope for the French team that the epilogue will not be the same, while there are many promises two days before the Blues’ entry into the World Cup against Senegal in New York. Dear Didier Deschamps, “the living environment and the working environment” were posed at the start of the gathering. With a specific goal: to go far together, regardless of everyone’s playing time. What comes first is the collective interest.
« We don’t want to lose anyone, there is support, explained the coach. I know the players well enough on a human level. The group lives well, there can be affinities, the notion of unity and collective strength is essential. Those who won’t have a role on the field, it’s difficult, but they will have a role too. »
“Signals that are not very perceptible”
A speech well known by all the players like Lucas Hernandez, Friday at a press conference, who did not express the slightest regret at the idea of not being the first choice for the position. “Whether you play or you don’t play, the most important thing is to be there, to know that it’s an extraordinary chance, unique moments that we will keep for life,” insisted the Paris Saint-Germain player, present to cover the positions of central defender and left side.
Given that everyone is pretty much set on their fate even before the start of the competition (we doubt we’ll see Maghnes Akliouche come and grab a starting place for example), do we know in advance, within the group, that a competition is going to go well? “There are signals, it’s sometimes not very noticeable, quite difficult to explain, but you know pretty quickly how your competition is going to go,” explains François Clerc, who played in Euro 2008 with the Blues.
The signals: the famous “group that lives well”, an important common experience and certainties on which to rely. The Blues have all that, even if the last friendly outings, against the Ivory Coast and Northern Ireland, did not reassure the crowds either. But everything is not black and white. Former Swiss international Johan Djourou remembers a global campaign in 2014 that got off to a bad start, where the famous “signals” were not good, before the improbable happened:
« There is sometimes this feeling that things are going to go badly. We play Jamaica and Peru in preparation, not great, we arrive in Brazil, we play an internal match, the team which is to start the World Cup loses, and you arrive, you don’t have much certainty. And in fact, you have a decent World Cup. »
“Le vivre ensemble, c’est primordial”
What “saved” the Nati was the famous good understanding in the team. And given the state of the French troops since the start of preparation, it seems that everything is going well in the best of all possible worlds. “The result is one thing, but when a group lives well, is connected and fights for the same cause, I find that that’s when there is really something that makes the difference,” adds Djourou.
So we snooped around, looking for the slightest trifle on social networks, nothing except this non-shaking of hands between Kylian Mbappé and N’Golo Kanté. Not enough to make a fuss about it. “Living together, we often talk about it at a World Cup, but it is essential because the players will stay together for six weeks if they go through to the end,” indicates François Clerc. The better and healthier the atmosphere, the more likely we are to go far.”
But even if we have the best possible atmosphere, if you only have GOs in your team, you are not likely to go far. The Blues arrive armed and know it, even if the discourse has evolved somewhat in recent weeks to avoid outbreaks. “We have a superb team, but we are not the only ones to have a great team in this competition,” said Hernandez, who indicated during the American tour in March that “on the offensive level, no other selection had such versatile players, determinants”.
“They know each other so well,” smiles Ludovic Giuly, who did not have the chance to participate in a major competition with the Blues. There are players who are emerging, who will also make a difference. When you’re in a group like that, you feel like something’s happening. You’re not going to say it, but you feel like there’s something different. And then it’s up to Didier Deschamps to manage that well.” And in terms of group management, DD is BAC +14.
