France’s national coach Didier Deschamps sees no problems despite the world champion’s poor performance in the Nations League almost two months before the start of the World Cup.
“It’s a young French team that doesn’t have the experience at a high level. We shouldn’t worry,” said the former professional on Sunday after the 2-0 defeat in Denmark. Above all, he is counting on the return of some established stars such as Karim Benzema from Real Madrid: “The internationally experienced players will do us good.”
The Équipe Tricolore was again far from good World Cup form in the 0-2 draw in Copenhagen and ended Group A with just one win from six games and just one point ahead of relegated Austria. “It’s not a question of the game system,” Deschamps defended against criticism of his formation. “If you always leave Danish players alone in four corners, you can’t change that with three, five or twelve players.”
Problems with many top nations
Deschamps also sees problems in many top nations such as Germany (recently 0-1 against Hungary), Spain (1-2 against Switzerland) and England (0-1 in Italy). “There are other big teams that lose too,” explained the longtime midfielder. “We shouldn’t think we’re better than the others.”
Coach Ralf Rangnick meanwhile finds himself in need of explanation after Austria’s 1: 3 against group winners Croatia. With just one win from six games, the Rangnick team led by captain David Alaba had as few successes as most recently under Karel Brückner (2008/09). “In the end it’s a very disappointing result,” said Rangnick. After a few changes and rearrangements, the 64-year-old was also self-critical: “In retrospect, I probably wouldn’t do it that way anymore, but afterwards you’re always smarter.”
