Didier Deschamps's team came close to the second consecutive title, something that no one since Brazil had achieved, and their third. But they stayed at the gates after coming back twice from a game that was very uphill for them from the start. The coach did not want to detract from Argentina and recognized the sadness that overwhelmed all of his squad.
Head down and disappointed. Raphael Varane already knows what it is to win a World Cup. He wanted to repeat in Qatar what he had achieved in Russia and throughout the championship he demonstrated his hierarchy. However, in the key game neither he nor his teammates managed to stand up to Argentina for more than an hour. When they did, they came close to victory, but it escaped them in an unequal penalty shootout.
The French center-back from Manchester United was the first Frenchman to appear. He said he was "very sad about the loss but proud of this team." And he recognized that France did not enter the meeting well. “For an hour we were not well. We came back with our hearts and fought until the end. It has been a competition with many difficulties. We fought a lot to try to win it, ”he assured.
To find the reasons why France did not live up to expectations at the start of the final, Varane referred to the physical problems suffered by his team in the previous days. Up to five players suffered a virus that could also affect them psychologically.
"We did not manage to apply the plan we had, things did not go well, I do not know if it was physical or psychological," he acknowledged. “But when we tied we were better physically and we pushed to win it. I am proud of everything we did”, claimed the Frenchman.
Didier Deschamps, the France coach, for his part, said after losing the 2022 World Cup final against Argentina on penalties, that even if he had won the tournament, he would not have revealed his future in the national team, because he has a meeting pending with the President of the French Football Federation.
"Even if the result had been different, I would not have answered that question today. I am sad for the players and for the coaching staff. I will meet with the president," he explained at a press conference after the defeat, in which he noted that his team He did "what was necessary to earn the right to dream" of the title, after equalizing 2-0 and then 3-2.
"Argentina has a lot of quality and has put a lot of aggressiveness on the field. We expected it. I don't take credit for it. We have experienced a lot of emotions. It's something cruel. We touched the trophy up close. It couldn't have been", he valued.
