Get daily World Cup briefings from our writers across North America – plus more from Inside Sport after the tournamentGet our free World Cup briefing and sport emailGet our free World Cup briefing and sport emailWhen Didier Deschamps became manager of France, it was so long ago that Jose Mourinho was in charge of Real Madrid – the first time around, that is. It may be more pertinent to say that Sir Alex Ferguson was at Manchester United, Sir Kenny Dalglish had just left Liverpool and Tottenham were turning to Andre Villas-Boas. Another time.Deschamps can feel the timeless figure who has spanned eras, but one is ending. After 14 years, he is standing down. It may be after 188 games, too, if he steers France to a third consecutive World Cup final or, indeed, a third-place match. He will fall just short of Joachim Low’s record for a European manager, of almost 15 years and 198 matches at the helm.His immediate predecessor as a World Cup-winning coach could provide one comparison. Low stayed too long with Germany. If France flounder in the United States, the accusation will be that Deschamps has done likewise, especially as his former teammate, turned triple Champions League-winning manager, Zinedine Zidane seems to have spent years waiting to succeed him. (Reuters)Win in New York on 19 July, however, and there is a case for calling Deschamps the greatest World Cup manager of all: it is undeniable he has been gifted with terrific talents, but he has won one tournament and reached the final in another. It is worth remembering, too, that France’s last World Cup before he took charge, in South Africa in 2010, was an exercise in embarrassment, with more mutinies by the French players than wins, with a lone goal and an early exit.And so, after Laurent Blanc stood down in 2012, there was a logic in turning to Deschamps. He duly joined Franz Beckenbauer in a select group to win the World Cup as both captain and manager. He has nonetheless been damned with faint praise, in part because he has had such talented players, in part because of his pragmatic bent. There is no such footballing philosophy as Deschampsball; yet no other manager has seen his side score seven goals in World Cup finals.The counter-argument is to note Deschamps’ France reached the semi-finals of Euro 2024 without scoring an open-play goal; they instead had two own goals, one penalty and a successful penalty shootout. France were less than the sum of their parts then.Under Deschamps,…
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2026-06-10 07:09:37
