After seeing France’s dramatic World Cup final loss to Argentina on penalties, Didier Deschamps will decide on his future in the new year.
France twice came from behind in an exciting 3-3 tie after extra time at Lusail Stadium thanks to Kylian Mbappe’s hat-trick, the second to be scored in a men’s World Cup final.
However, Lionel Messi, a teammate of Mbappe‘s from Paris Saint-Germain, won the coveted prize after Kingsley Coman and Aurelien Tchouameni both missed their attempts in the shootout.
The setback will probably rekindle rumors about Deschamps’ future, with former France great Zinedine Zidane long considered a potential successor.
Deschamps, however, will take his time to weigh up whether to extend his 10-year stay with the two-time world champions.
“You’re not first to ask. Even if we had won, I would not be able to answer that tonight,” Deschamps said at his post-match press conference.
“Of course, I am very sad for the players and staff, but I’ll have a meeting with the [French Football Federation] president at the start of next year and then you’ll find out.”
After Angel Di Maria was knocked down by Ousmane Dembele’s challenge, Messi scored Argentina’s first goal in the championship, drawing ire from several France players.
After the game, Deschamps expressed his own displeasure with Szymon Marciniak’s performance as the referee, but he also congratulated Argentina.
Messi scored Argentina’s opening goal in the final after Angel Di Maria went down under Ousmane Dembele’s challenge, provoking an angry reaction from several France players.
Deschamps made his own frustration with the performance of referee Szymon Marciniak clear after the game, though he also offered his congratulations to Argentina.
“I need to be careful what I say. You saw as well as I did. It could have been worse, could have been better,” he said when asked about the officials’ display.
“There were some decisions that gave rise to discussion but that’s the case in every game. I said before the game that Argentina had been lucky, not that they were helped by decisions.
“I don’t want to take anything away from them, they fully deserve the title. It’s not because of decisions that they came out victorious, and I just discussed this with the referee.
“I don’t want to get into what was said, I just want to congratulate Argentina.”
French president Emmanuel Macron was seen speaking to Deschamps in the aftermath of Sunday’s defeat and he told RMC Sport he had encouraged the 54-year-old to remain in post.
“Of course, I asked Didier Deschamps to continue, I want him to continue! I told him he had to digest,” Macron said.
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