France manager Didier Deschamps has refused to respond to questions about his future after Les Bleus were knocked out of the 2024 Euro championship.
The French team suffered a 2-1 loss to Spain on Tuesday night in Munich, extending their wait to win the title which they last lifted in 2000 when Deschamps was captain.
The defeat to Spain has raised questions on whether the 55-year-old will continue on the job he held since 2012, but was not willing to give a definitive answer to the media.
“I just lost a semi-final, just ask my president [of the French FA, Philippe Diallo), I respect you, please try and respect people who also have responsibility,” Deschamps said
“I am being calm, what happened happened, I am here to answer questions but I wont answer this one. You know the situation very well, and you know what the president thinks, so perhaps you should not have asked this question.”
The disappointment is huge…
But we will use this Euro for the future 💪#FiersdetreBleus pic.twitter.com/ApPLBbcJKT
— French Team ⭐⭐ (@FrenchTeam) July 9, 2024
Reflecting on the defeat to Spain, Deschamps said: “I am not going to pass on responsibility – I am in charge and responsible. First of all due to the
[busy] end of the season, and Kylian [Mbappe] suffered a trauma [to his nose] and even then we managed to reach the semi finals against a Spanish side of such quality.
“Antoine Griezmann didn’t start, Kylian Mbappe did and he didn’t play as well as he usually does. I am not looking for excuses, but when we started our preparation [for the Euros] we were missing some key players, and Dayot Umpacano arrived in poor physical condition.
“We did our best and we tried to be as efficient as possible. It was great that we scored first in this game but the Spanish side did mastered the game better. We didn’t perform so well, we didn’t manage to play high up as I wished but we pushed until the end, and I won’t say my players didn’t give their all, but they didn’t all play at 100 percent of their capacities at the Euros for several reasons.”
Under Deschamps’ management, France reached the Euro 2016 final on home soil but lost to Portugal.
They would go on to win the 2018 FIFA World Cup, 10 years after he lifted it as captain on home soil.
They also reached the 2022 World Cup final in Qatar but lost to Argentina on penalties.
