INTERVIEW
Friday night in Iceland, the Blues can make a big step towards qualifying for Euro 2020. They will have to get out of a trap match in Reykjavik, under a freezing temperature but under the pressure of local fans, who dreams all at the same time of a third consecutive qualification for a great international competition and a first victory against France, world champion in title. What salivate almost all 360,000 inhabitants of the island. But not enough to shake the coach Didier Deschamps and his staff, wheeled to international games. Guy Stéphan, the deputy always, tells Europe 1 Deschamps method in the home stretch before a game of this importance.
"An important motivational aspect"
It is actually in the afternoon that slowly, the pressure will rise for the players. "Didier will meet the players this afternoon for the chat, the meeting, give the latest instructions.It will ensure that the players are in very good conditions," says Guy Stephan. "There is also a motivational aspect that is important, it's time to give more confidence to the players, more confidence to the team, it's all that, this talk is not very long, about ten minutes, but it's a reminder of the important points. "
A brief and synthetic chat so adapted to the players that the coach has in front of him. "We have a generation that is rather young, a generation that zaps a lot, a connected generation, which needs to have precise but relatively short talks," said Guy Stephan. "Footballers are no different from other young people today, they are more comfortable with their feet, that's all," the assistant coach smiles.
And then the Blues will arrive early in the evening at Laugardalsvöllur, the stadium where the confrontation against Iceland will take place. And there, Didier Deschamps has a ritual of his own. "He stays in the locker room during the warm-up of the players" reveals Guy Stéphan. "It is also a moment for him to empty his mind, he is alone in the locker room, it allows him to be quiet.At the game, he knows he must be sometimes very responsive. It is also good that he has these few minutes of quiet before the match. "
"He's wrong to be right"
Finally arrive the last minutes before the kickoff, the one where the tension is at its combe. "About fifteen minutes before the kickoff, the players will leave the locker room, and at that time, before they go out, Didier said a few words, with a reminder of the instructions," said Guy Stephan. "There may be some players too, of course, there will be changes during this match, since Hugo Lloris is not here, Paul Pogba is not there, they are players who usually There, it can be Raphael Varane, it can be Blaise Matuidi, it can be Steve Mandanda. "
Since his arrival at the head of the Blues in 2012, Didier Deschamps has chained a quarter-final World Cup, a final of Euro and especially a final victory at the Russian world, in 2018. What to give some certainty. Does this mean that Didier Deschamps is never wrong, is he ever wrong? "He is wrong to be right," eludes Guy Stephan with a joke. "Anyway he's listening, but he likes having arguments, and then he makes his decision."