EDITORIAL
France's football team is meeting in Clairefontaine on Monday to prepare for their two Euro 2020 playoffs against Iceland and Turkey. Despite being sidelined in Chelsea, Olivier Giroud was called by Didier Deschamps. For our editorialist Virginie Phulpin, the striker, despite his status as world champion, has nothing to do there.
"It will not happen tired, that's for sure ... Olivier Giroud played in all and for all 18 minutes in one month with his club Chelsea.And yesterday (Sunday, Editor's note), the height of the bet Away, the striker was not even a substitute for the trip to Southampton How can we continue to bring a player who does not play football to the French team? He will have a slight lack of rhythm.
He needs confidence in himself. But this trust, he does not have it ...
I want to call him in Blue for services rendered and his aura of world champion. But Didier Deschamps begins to worry a little about his situation. It is the coach who said he had to be a club member to be part of the team? So you have to be logical and decide in the quick. Even if it's unpleasant. The team of France, it is not a group of speech for players who would like to find the morale.
Olivier Giroud is aware of the problem. And it's all but a gift, this call in France team. What can he do in the field? Nobody can answer, since he does not play. With respect to his teammates in Blue, it may be complicated too, when they talk about their daily club. And when we have been subjected to so many criticisms during the World Cup, the jeers about the striker who does not score, I think that among the Blues, he needs confidence in him. But this trust, he does not have it.
To rebuild itself elsewhere than in Chelsea
So must we push Olivier Giroud out? Yes, but for a goodbye, not for a goodbye. France has enough talented strikers to finish the qualifying campaign at the Euro. And during this time, let Olivier Giroud find the ground. He may leave Chelsea in January, at the time of the winter transfer window, if the club lets him leave. This would be the best solution. Leaving to be in a club a little less upscale. It is better to be a member of a team that does not play the Champions League than watch your teammates fight in Europe.
Finally the only place where we saw Olivier Giroud since the beginning, it is on the cover of the magazine Jesus, where he spoke of his faith. It is not because he is 33 years old that he must be sacrificed in the French team. Surely not. That he rebuild himself elsewhere. And after that we could very well see him at the Euro. But for now, it's a casting error in blue. "