Before the 1984 European Championship, French manager Michel Hidalgo had a problem. He had four virtuoso playmakers, but no centre-forward. An idea born, he formed a midfield square with his talented playmakers, led by the impeccable Michel Platini. This became known as the Magic Square or Le Carré Magic and inspired their first championship victory.
Decades later, Hidalgo’s distant successor Didier Deschamps – whose France beat Norway 4-1 to top World Cup Group I – also had problems. He had so much wealth that he couldn’t configure the perfect cheat code. Kylian Mbappe and Ousmane Dembele, both wingmen, were repositioned in the center with surprising success by their clubs. But he could get only one position. He can release Mbappe or send it to the left for Dembele; He couldn’t even bench the Footballer of the Year, Dembele.
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The confusion did not end there. He had two exceptional all-round playmakers, Michael Olis and Desiree Du. Both could play behind center forward as well as on the wings. He had difficult choices, puzzle pieces muddling his mind. He couldn’t put one in—for the club, Mbappé, Dembélé, Michael Olise and Désiré Doué scored 97 goals between them last season and, with assists, 157—nevertheless fit into his preferred position.
A pragmatic manager, he chose his well-worn structure. A center forward (Mbappe), two men on the flanks (Olis and Dembele), and a playmaker behind them (Due as Antoine Griezmann). In the first half, there was a mess of broken notes. The 2002 edition saw echoes of their dreadful opening game against the same opposition. France had too much talent for their own liking and went out without scoring a single goal in the first round.
During the break, Deschamps found his magic class. He moved Aulis into a central No.10 role, so that he could keep the inactive Mbappé busy. Although he was a winger at Crystal Palace, he flourished in his role at Bayern Munich. Dew was an auxiliary playmaker, thus the playmaking double pivot. As a result, Dembele is thus given the freedom and space to drive through the inside right channel, rather than spreading out to the right, so that he does not encroach on Mbappe’s space.
France’s Ousmane Dembele, right, celebrates with Kylian Mbappe after scoring his team’s third goal against Norway. (AP Photo/Martin Meisner)
This result proved disastrous for his opponents. Everyone can do what everyone likes. Mbappe can carry a fraction to his left and find space wide; Dembele can cut inside and wreak havoc. Both were relegated to centre-forward, and instincts are not unlike the classical center forward who relished the centrality of the role. Both like a bit of width to their side, though not as much width as traditional wingers. Results: Mbappe 5 goals; Dembele: 4 with a brace. France: 10 goals in three games; 23 shots on target. Deschamps’ biggest headache was solved – to use the best of his two monumental forwards. This was a major point of contention in France before the tournament. The former giants were critical of Deschamps’ handling of Dembele, who had just eight goals and six assists in 61 games for his national team before the tournament. “There should be a campaign to save Dembele, the way they handled him is deplorable,” Bixete Lizarazu wrote in his column in L’Equipe.
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Inadvertently, he unleashed the most aggressive iteration of his 14-year tenure. This is his last World Cup and he wants the world to judge him as the ringmaster of the most destructive French side of this century.
Jigsaw solved, everything fell into place. Hostage pulls the strings with magnificent maturity. His assist to Mbappe for the opening goal against Senegal, a brilliantly disguised diagonal pass, was made in football heaven. Endowed with dexterous feet and a keen intellect from playing chess in his spare time, he has a preternatural spatial sense. He can be an agent of chaos as well as give up control. “He’s a dream come true. He doesn’t play the game, he thinks the game,” Thierry Henry, his former U-21 coach, told Fox Sports. He is only 24 years old, yet he is the beating heart of this amazing French quartet.
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Only 21-years-old, Dui has a wealth of jaw-dropping skills. But he restrains himself from flourishing. When the hostage is around, he is like a studious apprentice taking cues from the master. He impressed Deschamps after the very first sight. “He has the ability to beat people. To cover a lot of ground, which is not always the case (for players with his profile). So he can play in attack and midfield,” he once said.
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All four bring different characteristics to the table to create a comprehensive whole, with Mbappe possessing pace, accuracy and presence; Dembele is all agile, incisive movements; Aulis has intuition, a ceiling talent in team sports; Dew is a happy soul, unpredictable and wild, someone who can find satisfaction in anything. Communication is now telepathic – no need for gestures or shouting. When Olis has the ball, Mbappe knows exactly where to move, just as Olis knows exactly where Mbappe is going. When Mbappe has the ball at his feet, Dembele’s mind maps out possible routes. Mbappe assisted Dembele’s first two goals. All four can assist and score goals, all performing their defensive duties well. They can hunt individually as well as collectively.
The destination of the World Cup will depend on who can break Deschamps’ magic square.