Q: What do you keep from the year 2021?
A: "We had three goals, we achieved two which are important. The premature elimination of the Euro hurt, but we have to accept it too. Everything was going very well until the 81st minute (against the Swiss in eighth). Behind, it goes in all directions, everything is called into question, details that have no importance take on disproportionate proportions. Being able to start again is not easy because it was a hard blow, but I 'I was convinced deep down that there was still great things to do. For me, 2021 remains a positive year. "
Q: What makes you think that the "ten minutes of madness" of the Euro will not happen again in Qatar?
A: "Nothing, that's the high level. Sometimes it can go wrong. When we do less, there are no more guarantees. When the result is not there and there is a elimination at the end, everything comes out in a negative way, to excess. We were athletically ric-rac. We had to face a terrible heatwave, which massacred us physically. It is this accumulation of things that us makes you lose your lucidity. We have become fragile. "
Q: Karim Benzema has been given a suspended prison sentence.
He appealed.
What is your position on the file?
A: "It is clear and clean. A court decision cannot be commented on. You have to accept it. From the moment he has appealed, it will be necessary to wait. I do not have the justice program. . I spoke with him. If he appeals, it is because he obviously finds it too hard, too severe, or even more. It is his right. Today, he is selectable, it is the position of the President of the (French Football) Federation. "
Q: Is the French team page definitely turned for Olivier Giroud, Steve Mandanda and Moussa Sissoko?
A: "We don't know. At one point, it stops. There is never the right timing but it's like that. Today, these three players are still selectable. to say necessarily selected. Both did what they had to do. It happened to others, too, in previous years. There is not a player who wants that to happen. stop. But at some point, yes, it does happen. We don't necessarily know when. "
The coach of the Blues Didier Deschamps during a press point in Clairefontaine, November 8, 2021 FRANCK FIFE AFP / Archives
Q: President Noël Le Graët plans to discuss your future after the World Cup.
Is there a chance you will see each other before?
R: "Ask him the question. It is not planned like that. Today, it is planned that we meet again afterwards and that we decide together, even if it is he who will have the last word. . But I don't have a problem with that. Sincerely. I will manage the players the same way. "
Q: Would a title in Qatar sound like the perfect time to go?
A: "I don't ask myself the question. I don't project myself. If I have to have another life, it will also be very good. But I don't know which one. There is no age limit ( laughs) When I first started out as a coach, I used to tell my wife I would have done the tour at 40. And look today. "
Q: Have you thought about saying stop after the Euro?
A: "No. Never. Not even for half a second. I took the time to breathe, to isolate myself completely. It was three, four days. From the moment when my determination and my desire are still there. maximum, I'm up to the challenge. "
Q: Have you been contacted by any clubs so far?
A: "It could happen that I was asked, after the title of world champion for example, but I am not available. I do not have to open the door. I am fulfilled. I do not feel any wear as a coach. If I could be ten years older than what I'm going through today, that would be ideal. Because that's the very, very high level, that's all I love. I know very well that it will stop one day, but in any case in 2022, my phone is on silent. "
Q: Are you approaching this World Cup holding the title or as a nation in reconquest?
A: "By holding the title. The wait has always been very important around the Blues, but it is even more so since this title of world champion. The Euro is very good, but there is no nothing better than a World Cup. You can't go higher. Getting there is very hard, but keeping up is even harder. "
Didier Deschamps relishes the victory of the Blues against Kazakhstan at the Parc des Princes, November 13, 2021 FRANCK FIFE AFP / Archives
Q: So a successful World Cup is a World Cup won for France?
A: "I already know what a failed World Cup is. It all depends on where you place the cursor, but yes, the ambition is this: to go all the way. Then, when you say that, the ambition becomes complacency and when we do not say it, it is jargon. It was the case for the last Euro. But we must have this ambition, even if there is no guarantee."
Comments collected during a round table with some media including AFP.
© 2021 AFP