ARLINGTON, Texas — Didier Deschamps buried the most revealing sentence of his news conference Monday toward the end of a long answer about the dynamic between his two left wingers, but there it was all the same.
“I am not changing my tactics based on the opponent, no,” Deschamps said in French, according to an interpreter.
Provided Deschamps was telling the truth, that is a crucial piece of information before France faces a Spanish side Tuesday afternoon that seems to have the capability to change the game state on which Les Bleus have premised their entire World Cup.
Going with four attackers up front as a way of shoehorning as much of their prodigious talent as possible onto the field was a bold stroke from Deschamps at the start of this tournament.
The foursome of Kylian Mbappé, Ousmane Dembélé, Michael Olise and one of Désiré Doué or Bradley Barcola is as much an embarrassment of riches as any team has had in recent memory.
They have allowed France to control every game it’s played so far at this World Cup; never once has Deschamps’ side looked out of control.
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Mbappé is tied with Lionel Messi atop the Golden Boot race.
He, Dembélé and Olise could all end up Ballon d’Or finalists if France goes on to win its second World Cup in eight years.
Against Spain, though, keeping that foursome together seems to present considerable risk, for La Roja are perhaps the only team left in the tournament that can own the ball — and thus decide how the game is played — against a team of France’s quality.
Deschamps did play the foursome together last year in the Nations League semifinal against Spain, which became a wide-open 5-4 Spanish win.
Assuming that is how they line up Tuesday, it is a statement that Deschamps believes he can force Luis de la Fuente’s Spain to shift, as opposed to the other way around.
Or, at least, he believes that his attack can hurt Spain in transition as much as Spain’s possession can hurt France.
“We know that, historically, Spain has always played a possession game, even if it hurts you in transition,” France defender Jules Koundé said. “We, too, are a team that is comfortable playing with the ball. And we can also play a bit further down and exploit [the opponent] in transition, because we have a lot of quality to play like that. So you have to take into account that tomorrow, we will have to have the ball, because against Spain, you cannot leave the ball [for them over] 90 minutes.”
Deschamps said that Aurélien Tchouaméni will be available Tuesday, though he stopped short of saying the midfielder is 100 percent after missing the past two games with a groin injury.
