A “deep crisis” threatens France in the “Nations League”!

Dessin-Charpieu (AFP)

In order to avoid a third consecutive loss, the French national team needs to win against its guest, Belgium, on Tuesday, in the second round of the European Football Nations League, in order to avoid entering into a deep crisis that it has not witnessed for several years.
The French national team lost the European Cup semi-final to Spain 1-2, which won the title by defeating England by the same score, before losing to Italy 1-3 in a surprising manner.
France goalkeeper Mike Maignan admitted that the blow his team received when they lost at home to Italy was “very painful.”
During this loss, the French team abandoned two basic pillars: its defensive solidity and its ability to achieve a positive result, even when it does not play well. During the match against Italy, its net received the total of what it conceded in 6 matches in the last European Cup, to start the fourth edition of the Nations League, which it won in 2021, in the worst possible way.
There is no doubt that the pressure will increase on the national team coach and former captain Didier Deschamps if his team suffers another loss. The two teams met in the last 16 of the last European Championship, and the French team scored a late goal that came by mistake by the veteran Belgian defender Jan Vertonghen two minutes before the end of the match.
France were not particularly effective in scoring at the last continental finals, scoring one goal from open play through Randal Kolo Muani in the semi-final, while the others came from two own goals and a penalty kick taken by Kylian Mbappe, something they struggled with against Italy despite scoring a goal after 13 seconds through Bradley Barcola, the fastest in France’s history.
The French national team has not lost 3 matches under the supervision of Deschamps, who took over the training in the summer of 2012, since its fall between March and June 2013 against Spain and Uruguay with the same score of 0-1, and against Brazil 0-3.
Deschamps had revealed a while ago that he would adopt the principle of rotation in the Nations League and said in this regard, “I think it is a good idea. I believe that the six matches that we will play in the Nations League should serve us in this regard, specifically the participation of new players and the distribution of playing times.”
In response to criticism regarding his team’s boring style in recent matches, Deschamps attributes this to several absences in the middle of the pitch, most notably the injured Eduardo Camavinga and Adrien Rabiot, who has found himself without a club so far after his contract with Juventus expired, in addition to the injuries of Aurelien Tchouameni and Warren Zaire-Emery during the team’s last camp.
On the other hand, the active midfielder N’Golo Kante did not perform as expected, and Youssouf Fofana played his worst match since joining his country.
Deschamps may also resort to other options in the forward line, and may not include Real Madrid’s new star Kylian Mbappe in the starting lineup after the latter scored only one goal in his last eight matches, which was from a penalty kick against Poland in the continental finals.
France and Atletico Madrid striker Antoine Griezmann was self-critical, saying: “We did not show much fighting spirit against Italy. We played individually, not collectively. We have to be up for it against Belgium, show that we made a mistake in the last match and do our best.”
“It happens that you lose from time to time tactically, but we must regain the fighting desire to play,” he concluded.