EM 2021 ⋅ Switzerland will face world champions France in the European Championship round of 16 on Monday. It’s hard to imagine a heavier chunk for the team of national coach Vladimir Petkovic.
Does the Equipe Tricolore have the best national coach? Didier Deschamps, who also became world champion as a player in 1998, definitely lives in the top elite of the coaching guild. Do France have the best players from back to front? Maybe. Does France have the best-stocked substitutes’ bench? Few people doubt it. Do France have a good mood in the team? You can only judge it from the outside and therefore don’t know.
The team spirit was also the weakness at earlier major tournaments. For example at the 2002 World Cup in South Korea and Japan, when the team was eliminated from the group matches as defending champions. Or at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, when envy, dissatisfaction and chaos spread under coach Raymond Domenech. Even then, the Grande Nation said goodbye to the tournament with one point from three group games. Didier Deschamps made the radical cut in 2012 and gradually built up a new and unencumbered team. Not many believed that the “new” French would be able to become world champions again just eight years after the all-time low in 2010.
Deschamps took a certain risk when he made a comeback for the contentious and controversial Real Madrid goal getter Karim Benzema. After winning the group, it can be stated that Benzema’s nomination at least didn’t do any harm.
Is there anything speaking for Switzerland ahead of the last 16 against France? If so, it is probably the fact that the Swiss have often been able to stand up to the French in finals and qualifications in the past. Remember the two 0-0 at the 2006 World Cup and the 2016 European Championship.
France in numbers. Population: 67.4 million – Capital: Paris. – Establishment of the “Fédération Française de Football” association: 1919. – FIFA ranking: 2. – Previous participation in European Championship finals (9): 1960, 1984, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016. – Best European Championship result: Winner (1984 and 2000). – Qualification: 1st place in group H (10 games / 25 points). – Qualifying top scorer: Olivier Giroud (6 goals). – Most famous players: Kylian Mbappé (Paris Saint-Germain), Paul Pogba (Manchester United), Antoine Griezmann (FC Barcelona), Karim Benzema (Real Madrid). – Trainer: Didier Deschamps (FRA, since 2012). (sda)
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