PARIS — After a remarkable 14-year spell in charge capped by one World Cup triumph and another run to the final, Didier Deschamps is hoping to go out on a high as he gets ready to step down as France coach following the upcoming tournament in North America.
Les Bleus travel to the United States on top of the world rankings and are clearly one of the leading contenders for final victory.
They are bidding to reach a third consecutive World Cup final after winning the trophy in 2018 and losing an epic contest on penalties to Argentina in 2022.
Deschamps was appointed in 2012 when France was struggling to recover from the low ebb of the 2010 World Cup, which featured a squad mutiny against then-coach Raymond Domenech.
Under Deschamps, France has once again become one of the most feared names in the international game.
“It is a funny feeling,” Deschamps, now 57, said recently after naming his squad for a World Cup for the last time.
“I usually try to hide my emotions. But I am fine with it all. What has happened is in the past, and has been done quite well – if it hadn’t, I wouldn’t still be here after 14 years.
“Now all my energy is focused on this World Cup,” Deschamps added according to AFP.
It is expected that Deschamps’ old France teammate Zinedine Zidane will succeed him following the tournament.
In the meantime, Deschamps will try to lead France to their fifth World Cup final in eight editions, and a third title.
The Basque Country native has a remarkable CV as a player as well as a coach, having captained his country to World Cup glory on home soil in 1998 and at Euro 2000.
As a midfielder, he was 24 when he skippered Marseille to victory in the 1993 UEFA Champions League final.
Later also a Champions League winner with Juventus, he retired from playing aged just 32 and coached Monaco to the final of Europe’s elite club competition in 2004. He then won a French title with Marseille in 2010.
After a narrow quarter-final defeat to eventual champions Germany in the heat of the Maracana at the 2014 World Cup, he led his country to the final of Euro 2016 as hosts.
An extra-time defeat against Portugal at the Stade de France was painful, but by now he had an exciting generation of players emerging, featuring the likes of Paul Pogba and Antoine Griezmann.
Kylian Mbappe followed, making his debut aged 18 in March 2017, and the young striker starred as France won their second World Cup in Moscow in 2018.
Mbappe went on to score a stunning hat-trick in the Doha final in 2022, when France was unable to deny Lionel Messi his crowning moment with Argentina.
This will be a seventh major tournament as coach for Deschamps, who so far has one title and two defeats in finals, and has made one semifinal in that time.
France also won the UEFA Nations League in 2021, and the next coach will have a lot to live up to.
Above all, Deschamps is a winner, usually favouring efficiency over style despite having a wealth of talent at his disposal.
He was widely criticised at Euro 2024 when France reached the semifinals while scoring just four goals in six games – two of which were own-goals and one a penalty.
“If you are bored you can watch something else,” Deschamps replied to one question during that tournament suggesting France were dull.
However, France have looked highly impressive over the last year with a 4-2-3-1 system that makes room in attack for Mbappe, reigning Ballon d’Or Ousmane Dembele and Bayern Munich star Michael Olise.
Only West Germany between 1982 and 1990, and Brazil from 1994 to 2002, have previously reached three consecutive World Cup finals.
If he leads France to victory at the MetLife Stadium on July 19, he will become just the second coach to win the World Cup twice, after Italy’s Vittorio Pozzo in the 1930s.
Then it will be time for a different challenge.
“I’m not ruling anything out. I’m available, as everyone knows. We will see,” he said recently.
