The two-year contract of the newly appointed man at the helm of affairs, Didier Deschamps, begins with a friendly against Uruguay on Wednesday.
The 43-year old, famous for wearing the captain’s armband and leading the national team to glories in 1998 and 2000 in the FIFAWorld Cup and UEFA European Championship, feels honoured to be given the the chance to coach the national team.
The French International said “To wear the France shirt was my greatest experience as a player and it is an immense honour to coach the France national team too”.
Despite the fact that Marseille had a miserable run under him, and the club could only bag a French League Cup in 3 years, the French Football Association has yet again shown trust in Deschamps and rewarded him with the most daunting task. The new challenge
that awaits Deschamps is the World Cup qualifiers, starting immediately after the friendlies, with France pitted alongside Spain, Finland, Belarus and Georgia in group 1.
It will be interesting to watch, how France plays against Spain in the qualifiers and what loss can they inflict to the defending champions, who eliminated the men in blue in the quarterfinals, in the recently concluded Euro 2012. According to the new coach
“Spain are the overwhelming favourites, but we will give our all to qualify as group winners.”
Not surprisingly though, the newly appointed manager has promised to carry on with the good work of the previous manager of the national team, Laurent Blanc, as well as to bring certain changes too when he said “I want continuity” and “Of course, there are
things I will do differently”.
One of the few things that the manager has promised to do differently consist the inclusion of the practically discarded player in Laurent’s era, Rio Mavuba, back in to the squad after a spell of 5 years of bewilderness. Deschamps also hinted at ending Laurent’s
lone-striker policy as he included the likes of Gomis, Giroud and Benzema in the 15 member squad.
The French tactician's competitive football in a managerial position starts with a friendly against Uruguay, the same side who against all odds, put up a compelling display against France, ending the match in a 0-0 draw, in the 2010 World Cup opener of France
.
Tags: