The French coach has used a primarily settled squad through qualifying, and there will be no room for Real Madrid’s Karim Benzema or anyone who have not featured in his plans thus far.
Deschamps says his not Santa Claus
Didier Deschamps has expressed there will not be any shock call-ups for France at Euro 2020. Les Bleus will be heading to the European Championship this summer as one of the favourites after winning the 2018 World Cup. Deschamps has used a primarily settled squad through qualifying, and there will be no room for Real Madrid’s Karim Benzema or anyone who have not featured in his plans thus far. “I am not Santa Claus. I am not here to present surprises,” Deschamps told reporters. “I am working on it little by little. I have players who, like Corentin Tolisso from Bayern Munich, are still recovering, and I do not have all the information about their condition yet”.
Deschamps will announce his preliminary squad on May 18, but with the season running until the Champions League final on May 29, the French coach is aware that injuries can still play a role.
“I will announce my squad on May 18, but there are matches after that,” Deschamps said. “I will have players competing in two European Cup finals. So I hope everything goes well because, unfortunately, we cannot avoid the unexpected. The only list that matters is the one we send to UEFA at midnight on June 1”. It can be arguable that France have been placed in the proverbial group of death. While the Netherlands, for example, have been awarded a reasonably favourable group alongside Austria, North Macedonia and Ukraine, France’s pool are much more challenging as they have been placed with Germany, Hungary and defending champions Portugal. The top two in each group advance to the knockout stages, but there is still a route to glory for the top four best third-placed teams.