Special envoy to Athens
Saturday December 2 in Hamburg, Didier Deschamps will be accompanied by Guy Stéphan for the Euro draw (June 14-July 14). Suffice it to say that the Blues coach, held to a draw in Greece on Tuesday evening (2-2), is hoping for a rather lenient draw after having done the job by finishing first in Pool B, while validating the top seed status.
“I’ll wait and see,” he whispered on Tuesday evening before taking the plane back to Paris with his players. The most complicated thing is commenting on a draw. Due to the qualified countries, this leaves possible uncertainties. Italy will be in hat 4, there may be stronger groups than others. For our part, we did everything to get our place at the top of the series. Let’s wait and see. »
Scalded by the elimination in the round of 16 of Euro 2021 against Switzerland (3-3, 4 tab to 5), after a first round which had worn down his team (Germany, Portugal, Hungary), Deschamps hopes that similar situation will not happen again next summer. What would be the worst and best draw for the France team?
Without beating around the bush, falling against Denmark, the Netherlands and Italy, even if the Blues would remain favorites given the dynamics of all these nations, would not be good news. If France beat the Dutch in the group stage in 2023, each time the Batavians were diminished. Finding Italy, even far from its level of Euro 2021 where it gleaned the continental title, is never a walk in the park.
The more than affordable draw for the 2018 world champions would be to fall against Albania, Slovenia and a play-off. In this case, the first round would be a formality, if the Blues put in the ingredients of seriousness and combativeness glimpsed in 2023. And this would allow us to approach the phase of decisive matches with full confidence. Response on December 2.
Hat 1:-Germany-Portugal-France-Spain-Belgium-England
Hat 2:-Turkey-Romania-Hungary-Denmark-Albania-Austria
Hat 3:-Scotland-Croatia-Slovenia-Slovakia-Czechia-Netherlands
Hat 4:-Italy-Switzerland-Serbia-Dam Pathway A-Dam Pathway B-Dam Pathway C
