Anyone wondering how France’s attackers were getting along may have taken heart from a sequence during their training session on Saturday, held at Bucharest’s aptly-named Stadionul Arcul de Triumf. Kylian Mbappé received possession during a small-sided game, rolled his foot over the ball and then backheeled to Karim Benzema, who finished without fuss. “It’s for you, my brother,” Mbappé could be heard telling his teammate. “It’s for you.”
It feels like time for France to click, even though they have hardly faltered so far. They topped a fiendish Group F and, in the absence of any horror stories, their front line is foremost among the points being nitpicked over. Benzema and Antoine Griezmann have both got off the mark but cohesion has been fitful and there is a sense Mbappé’s arrival at this competition is still to come.
Mbappé has shown up, toiled and often sparkled but there has been no grand statement yet. Perhaps the precise nature of his combination in that practice match boded well: just after the half-hour in the draw with Hungary, Mbappé teed up Benzema with a sublime flick after taking Griezmann’s lofted pass on the run, only for the centre-forward to drag wide with the chance on a plate. It should have been the best assist of Euro 2020 and perhaps most other tournaments, too; perhaps the move has been finessed in the Romanian capital.
France may well be keeping something in reserve but nobody can say they are yet to work up a sweat. They have already dealt with two matches in Budapest’s sapping heat and it has certainly not gone unnoticed by an openly weary camp that some of their rivals will be able to beat a cooler path to the latter stages. Saturday’s workout took place in 34C heat and, while that has dipped slightly since, their session at Arena Nationala on Sunday was shifted back four hours to 8.30pm local time. It was a prescient call: a short, sharp thunderstorm cleared the air in the meantime. Any marginal gain helps over the course of a long month and conditions will be even more accommodating when they meet Switzerland at 10pm tomorrow. Even so, a quiet night’s work would go down well.
So would a statement from Mbappé. Quite beyond the chance Benzema spurned, it could have been different so far: he had a goal of his own and an assist for the Real Madrid forward ruled out by VAR in the win over Germany, while at his unstoppable best he would have taken the ball on when sent through by Paul Pogba against Portugal rather than shooting unsuccessfully. He won a soft penalty that night and laid the ground for Griezmann’s equaliser in the Hungary game but, given his pre-tournament spat with Olivier Giroud, it takes little for a non-scoring forward to set tongues wagging.
The former France international Jérôme Rothen piled into what he perceived to be Mbappé’s inflated ego on Friday. “I think Deschamps can no longer manage it and it is problematic,” he said, referring to his status as preferred set-piece taker. “It’s astonishing that he lets Mbappé do so many things and not be totally focused.”
Mbappé’s body language has offered no hint of an attitude problem and perhaps he is just trying too hard to make things happen from his perch on the left. There have also been question marks over Griezmann, who started the first two games on the opposite flank but returned to a drifting role behind Benzema against Portugal. Benzema’s surprise return from exile, while justified by his performance that night, has made for late changes to France’s attacking balance; perhaps it was never going to bed down immediately and the hope is that increased familiarity creates an inexorable force exactly when it matters.
In selecting a side to face the Swiss, taming his attacking mavericks is low down Deschamps’s list. France have been hit hard and early by injuries: Ousmane Dembélé’s tournament ended last week while Marcus Thuram and Jules Koundé will be absent. The condition of Benjamin Pavard, who was seemingly concussed against Germany, has also caused concern. Most pressingly, they lost two left-backs on Wednesday night: Lucas Digne has been ruled out so Deschamps may rethink his formation if Lucas Hernandez cannot return.
“The coach is open to discussions concerning the system,” Raphaël Varane said on Sunday morning, and things have gone further than that. While Mbappé and Benzema were rejoicing over their improved connection, Deschamps was trialling a back three of Varane, Presnel Kimpembe and Clément Lenglet, with Pavard and Adrien Rabiot as wing-backs. It is not an alien system to France but tinkering at this stage is hardly ideal.
Perhaps that will not matter against opponents for whom the round of 16 is a natural resting place: Switzerland have not reached the quarter-finals of a major tournament since the 1954 World Cup that they hosted. “The team is ready to write history,” Granit Xhaka said. “They are the favourites on paper but we don’t have to hide ourselves.” His side have never beaten their geographical rivals in a competitive game, although a goalless affair at Euro 2016 was among four draws in their last five meetings.
If France meet the Switzerland that succumbed to Italy, rather than the one that showed some style against Turkey, they will depart in peace. The weather has only been one of their concerns here: while their hotel, the Hilton Athenee Palace, has been reconfigured to comply with Covid-19 protocols it is centrally located and hardly the most relaxing of environments. Soon after their arrival on Friday, its lobby pulsated to the tunes of an end-of-year student ball. Deschamps and Mbappé hope a celebration of their own, two weeks from now, is about to move within reach.
