The French internationals defeated Le Pen

On Tuesday night (9/7), France face Spain in their first semi-final Euro 2024. It’s certainly an early final, but for many of the Blues players it’s taking place in completely different circumstances to last week’s games.

As strange as it may seem, the result of the first round of elections in France and its victory Marine Le Pen had greatly affected the national team, spreading a climate of unease over the group, with Didier Deschamps all the while trying to keep political developments out of the mission hotel. But in vain, as stars like Dembele, Turam, even Mbappe they had publicly referred to the result, asking citizens to mobilize…

Last Sunday, the team were on their way to training when it was announced that the far right in the French elections had been defeated. Happiness and relief permeated many of the players on the coach who had not hesitated to use a legendary national slogan: “liberte, egalite, fraternite” (Liberty, equality, fraternity). It took courage and confidence to come out publicly on such a sensitive issue, but it seems their message undoubtedly helped swing the vote.

Ousmane Dembele just posted a picture of himself with a big smile. Marcus Thuram, whose father Lilian has always been active in anti-racism issues, posted rousing words on Instagram: “Long live diversity, long live Democracy, long live France. The fight continues.” Koude and Tswameni also acted in a similar context.

Kylian Mbappe had called on the public to vote and appealed in particular to the youth of France, warning of the dangers of extreme and divisive ideas. How must these players have felt watching the images arrive of young people crying in celebration as the election result entertained their worst fears?

There is no doubt that the French players had an experience to remember. To be in your 20s, to appear in public, to take on a cause of national importance, to rally calmly and intelligently against a segment of the population that diminishes your status within your country, and finally to feel that you may actually have been a trigger for positive change – this is a big thing. As Coude said: “The relief is equal to the anxiety of the last few weeks, it is huge».

Liberty, equality and fraternity. UEFA’s (unfortunate) motto “keep politics out of sport” was emphatically drowned out in the French team in Germany. Who knows, maybe this result can help free the team on the field in some way. Performances have not been good so far in this European Championship, but sometimes external factors can be a remarkable driving force.

This was an undeniable factor the last time Germany hosted an international football tournament. Italy arrived at the 2006 World Cup mired in the mud of a scandal. The entire fabric of Italian football was involved Calciopoli case, when the “bug” of the Italian authorities revealed that Luciano Mozzi, Agnelli’s right-hand man at Juventus, was pulling the strings in a major match-fixing organization. Thirteen members of Italy’s delegation came from the four clubs involved in the scandal. The federal coach, Marcelo Lippi, was a long-time associate of Mozzi and their sons worked together at a company under investigation. All in all it was a rotten, corrupt crisis and it completely dominated the whole discussion around the “jobbers”. No one had really dealt with the team and the players who had traveled to Germany for the final stage of the competition.

In the end, Italy imposed what is called “silenzio stampa(press silence). Essentially the mission was removed from the media, a sort of “radio silence” was imposed and it was deemed best for the team to live in seclusion in the hotel, as if in a state of siege. For Lippi it was the only way to stay together and try to win matches to save their football soul.

They had a purpose and their focus was on winning at any cost. Was Italy a great team at the 2006 World Cup? Not necessarily. But they developed a winning mentality, which carried them further and further from match to match.

Captain Fabio Cannavaro led a steely defensive resilience that formed Italy’s backbone. They conceded just one goal to reach the final – and that was Cristian Jaccardo’s own goal against the USA in the group stage.

What Italy had in 2006 and France have yet to discover in 2024, is the ability to score even when they are not the most spectacular team to watch. Sometimes it just takes a development or an event off the pitch to give a team that extra boost. Didier Deschamps’ team will need this “injection” to find the extra quality for the upcoming match, as Spain are the most exciting and complete team of the tournament so far. France remains militant. He has yet to concede a goal from open play, but he hasn’t succeeded either.

This French team proudly symbolizes multiculturalism. No one on the mission looks at their teammate and asks how French he is. The Blues are made up of players who were mostly born and raised in the country they represent. (There are a few exceptions: Thuram, for example, was born in Italy while his father played there, and Kamavinga was born in Angola). Their roots include nations across Africa, the Caribbean and extend to the Philippines and French Guiana, a Creole outpost in South America…

But inside the stadium everyone wears the same shirt and passionately sings the same national anthem. Now it is possible that they have an additional incentive, the one that resulted from the result of the second round of elections. The French internationals saw that their word counts and how they managed to refute even the opinion polls with their posts. It is possible that this in itself could be the boost they need to become again the team that had reached the final of the Qatar World Cup two years ago…

Source: Kathimerini.gr