A banner embroidered with flowers beside him welcomed France manager Didier Deschamps to the MetLife Arena after his mother’s death. The message was simple but touching: “Didier, we are with you.” The MC stopped the hip-hop music. The players went through their warm-up drills with unusual indifference. After the national anthem was performed, French fans chanted: “C’est vous, Didi!” You are the man.
The understated French manager would be the man of the evening, though Kylian Mbappe scored two goals of artistic precision, Bradley Barkola showed off his velvety legs with a goal cut from silk and his flying Les Bleus held off Sweden’s iron-willed defense to win Round 3 2-3. The signs are ominous for teams that want to stumble, shepherded by a manager who operates without aura or vanity.
The arena became so emotional that Deschamps finally broke down. When he got stuck in the tunnel, he shed tears. Mbappe, putting France ahead, turned and ran to his manager, shouting and pointing at him, “C’est pour vous.” That’s for you. Sweating profusely in New Jersey, he hugged Deschamps, who whispered thanks in his ear and clung to him. The French players joined them and hugged their manager. He turned around and the cameras soaked his reddened eyes.
Highlights: France vs Sweden
Mbappe considers him a father figure, an unwavering pillar of support in his leaner days. It gave him a leap of faith in the 2018 tournament against Argentina; After Qatar’s heartbreak in 2022 and the European Championships in between, he spent months trying to console him; He defended him when there were rumors of a rift in the dressing room.
“Kylian—whether you like him or not—young people love him. You have an image of a selfish, individual man and, of course, a striker must be selfish, but I assure you he behaves like a captain in the French national team,” he defended last year. Interestingly, no manager used his gifts as much as Deschamps.
Even Mbappe loves him. “He is my comfort zone. He brings a lot of calmness to dressing, never loses his cool and gives us the freedom to play our way. There is a misconception that he is a defensive coach,” he said during the Nations League in February.
That label no longer fits. Deschamps has practical attributes, traits from his days as a fearsome defensive midfielder. The condescending nickname still survives: the water carrier. But one number from the 1998 World Cup is often forgotten: no one had as many touches throughout the tournament as Deschamps. If Zinedine Zidane was the brain, he was the backbone of the team. He never won his dues as a player; As a manager he should do this. He has been a World Cup winner (as player and coach), second World Cup and European Championship finalist. Yet it goes uncelebrated. Perhaps, he exists in the shadows as he wishes.
His batch of 2026, the most impressive French iteration of this century, is seen as a case of dazzling attacking talent rather than harnessing the manager’s personal abilities to a formidable collection of performers. He has found a way to combine Mbappe and Dembele and let Michael Olis flourish as his team’s creative force’. He has enabled Desire Dew and Bradley Barcola to flourish.
Story continues below this ad
The results are shocking. France have conceded only two goals and conceded 10 goals. His group holds the key to any defense. 30 minutes, Sweden did everything to stop them. A four-man defense became five, five became six, then they dug a trench. Still, France harassed them in various ways. First with long rangers, then with clever runs through the channel, then with quick transitions, with Olis and Barcola switching roles. It was just crazy for the Swedes. Twice the post office rejected them. One was an overhead kick by a hostage. The other was Mbappe’s low curler that had a millimeter more whip than he intended.
Also read | The late Erling Haaland winner sent Norway past Ivory Coast into the last 16
But the goal was fixed. So they came. Mbappe was the first to arrive after Olise and Dembele exchanged a one-two from a short corner. Dembele turns to his right and crosses the ball to the left. Mbappe travels diagonally and picks up the ball. He dropped his shoulder, showed a step-over and turned wickedly to the right, before threading his shot through a narrow alley between two Swedish shirts, the first layer of the firewall, between the second line of defence. His second strike was ruthlessly efficient with a curling finish.
Barcola, who started the game in place of Doue, scored a fun goal thanks to the effort of running behind three forwards. He controlled the ball flying away from him with the outside of his right boot and flicked the ball home. Ollis was the silent guide, sealing each of France’s three goals with his intuitive passing.
Story continues below this ad
The evening concluded with the usual pomp. Mbappe and co engaged the crowd, dancing on the floor and blowing kisses to fans. They patiently waited for Deschamps to return after his media commitment, so they could tell him once again that they were with him in his grief. In the evening his troops put on a fearless display of attacking, artistic football, Deschamps being the man.