MIAMI, United States, July 18 — France coach Didier Deschamps will embrace his last match in charge on Saturday as his side faces England in a World Cup third-place playoff in Miami.
“I know that the final curtain falls tomorrow,” he said at the pre-match press conference on Friday. The 57-year-old has been coaching France since 2012, and his contract is now coming to an end. Tipped as one of the title favorites this year, France lost 2-0 to Spain in the semifinals. “No one here is going to cry, but I know I’ll miss the French team. For 15 years, I had the privilege of experiencing moments that were magical, and others that were difficult,” added the coach. Deschamps, who won the World Cup as a player in 1998 and as a coach in 2018, has spent 25 years with the national team both as a player and a manager. “But life goes on. I’m a positive person, and I know things will be good, too. It’s the best thing that ever happened to me,” Deschamps said. “It took up 25 years of my life and left a lasting mark. Unforgettable memories remain. But the most important thing is always what lies ahead.”
Though France didn’t make it to the final, Deschamps wants his players to do their best. “We are disappointed because we had a lot of ambition for this competition,” he admitted. “We must accept the loss, and we now have this game around the corner, and then we will go on holiday — we all need it.” “The players, the staff and I have the duty to give it all and reach this last objective, less important than winning a final, but we are here,” he said. “The English team doesn’t want to play, and neither do we, but there is an objective, there is a game to play.”
Xinhua
