With a potentially world-beating juvenile squad that holds the cards to trump the best, France have arrived in Russia with the aim to conquer it. This is an account of the confusion and uncertainty behind their setup which might derail the Les Bleus off the track once again in the grandest stage of football, or not.
For the generation that has grown up worshipping the divine presences of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, their go-to memories when asked about their first comprehensible World Cup often involve snippets of the 20 bookings in The Battle of Nuremberg, Cristiano Ronaldo’s tears, Fabio Grosso’s celebration and Shakira’s performance in Berlin, before chronologically reaching the memory timeline consisting of Zinedine Zidane’s seismic headbutt on Marco Materazzi that shook the world of football. 2006 was in fact, a genesis for millions of twelve-year-olds who had dived into the ocean of the game of football which had introduced France as a formidable unit to them. They stayed awake late at night at different corners of the globe to get acquainted with the stars of the future and the passion associated with the beautiful game, which had reportedly infamously blinded referee Graham Poll into booking Croatian defender, Josip Simunic three times in a single match twelve years back.
Soon after the conclusion of the World Cup in Germany, Zinedine Zidane retired from world football which soon became a milestone in France’s footballing voyage. Since then, a lot has happened — exactly how much is for the history books, that’s up for debate with a disappointing group stage exit in 2010 World Cup and a painful outcome as the runners-up of Euro 2016. For the generation that is now a decade old veteran in the business of loving the game of football, France has always been a mention in the history books with names like Raymond Kopa, Michel Platini and Zinedine Zidane popping up, without ever having mentions of contemporary individuals. Didier Deschamps knows it well and he knows the pressure of guiding his team in Russia well too, having captained his nation as a player to their sole World Cup in 1998. The question remains of how the arsenal that he has brought with himself to the wintry nights in Istra will function together, being indifferent to their inexperience at this stage.
“Alright, alright, alright.”
— David Wooderson, Dazed and Confused