MOSCOW: Ahead of their quarterfinal against Uruguay, French newspaper Le Monde abruptly announced that the nation now had a new “Minister of Defence”.
That man, they said, was Raphael Varane. Despite the explosiveness that the Les Bleus possess in attack, the centre-back had stood out as one of their best players of this World Cup. France were always one of the most heavily favoured teams; they were expected to blow most teams away with their star-studded attack.
They have one of the world’s best forwards in Antoine Griezmann; the most expensive teenager in Kylian Mbappe; Ousmane Dembele, who Barcelona bought last year for £140 million; Nabil Fekir, who was subject to a failed Liverpool bid; Florian Thauvin, who scored 26 goals in Ligue 1 last year; and Paul Pogba, capable of orchestrating attacks at will.
Defence was always expected to be France’s Achilles heel. Varane and Samuel Umtiti play for the two biggest clubs in the world, but behind them was a world of obscurity. It was expected that lack of depth in this department would come to haunt them. It is not that France stumbled upon someone in their reserves who solved this problem. They were just lucky enough that this question never came to be asked.
They played with the same back-four — Varane, Umtiti, Lucas Hernandez and Benjamin Pavard — in all their games barring the dead rubber against Denmark. And these four musketeers have been excellence personified in every game, except for the one against Argentina. The only goal they conceded — apart from the three against the La Albiceleste — was a penalty against Australia in their opener.
Defensive prowess is a theme that has dominated France’s narrative, right from the start. Against Peru, it was the minnows who were constantly on the attack. They could have even won had it not been for Varane & Co, as Peru coach Ricardo Gareca admitted afterwards. France’s quarterfinal against Uruguay was billed as a contest between their attack and Uruguay’s defence. But once again the French centre-backs came out with highest marks, having frustrated Uruguay for 90 minutes.
Belgium, though, was their best display of the tournament; a defensive masterclass. After an electrifying first half, Eden Hazard faded into frustrating ineffectiveness. A rampaging Romelu Lukaku — who had out-muscled Brazil — was barely visible. When Robert Martinez turned into Jose Mourinho by playing Marouane Fellaini as high up as possible — no doubt hoping that the six-foot, four-inch midfielder would nod one in — Varane and Umtiti had an answer for that.
France coach Didier Deschamps was the first to admit that the game had been won by his defence. “Our defence was excellent. We had to defend deep; very deep at times because Belgium have technical quality. The idea was to not give them space, because they’ve rolled over everyone, even Brazil.”
It is not just defensively that France have excelled. Their back-four has popped up with important goals whenever their much-vaunted attack has been unable to deliver. Everyone remembers Mbappe’s marauding runs against Argentina. But at the most critical moment — when France were a goal down — it was Pavard who restored balance with one of the goals of the event.
In the quarterfinals, as France struggled to break down a resolute Uruguayan defence, Varane nodded in Griezmann’s free-kick. Against Belgium, Varane’s central-defensive partner Umtiti outjumped Fellaini to score the winner “Not scoring the first goal was going to be very difficult because of the way France were set up,” admitted Roberto Martinez after the match.
The last time three French defenders netted in the same World Cup was in 1998, when Bixente Lizarazu, Laurent Blanc and Lilian Thuram scored. France went on to lift the Cup. This time too, the signs are looking ominous.
vishnu.prasad@newindianexpress.com