Deschamps: Third place match is not a friendly; will rotate squad to give players a chance

Ahead of the FIFA World Cup third-place play-off against England, France national team coach Didier Deschamps was interviewed by beIN Sports.

Reporter: Didier, the moment has finally arrived. Tomorrow will be your last match as head coach of the French national team. How do you feel now?

Didier Deschamps: First, from a personal perspective, I am very aware that this is a journey coming to an end. But in my heart, including my coaching staff, we still have one last goal, and we will do everything we can to achieve it, even if it wasn't our initial goal.

So, the disappointment is certainly very strong. However, I am also very aware that this has been a wonderful experience, the best thing in my career. From 11 years as a player to 14 years as national team coach, there are so many beautiful memories along the way, and I have always been a lucky person.

I will certainly miss the French team. But I also tell myself that life is beautiful, and the best things are always yet to come.

Reporter: How have the last two days been? Was it difficult to get the team back on track?

Didier Deschamps: Well, first, we needed to digest the disappointment. The degree of this disappointment matches our goals and expectations.

I certainly have my own shortcomings, but I have always been a pragmatic and fact-oriented person. The Spanish team performed better than us, that's a fact.

Although it's a bit contradictory, when I look at the match data, such as physical running distance and sprint intensity, our data is actually very good.

So, where we didn't do well enough was on the technical level. This is certainly our own problem, but also because the Spanish team raised the standard of the game.

The combination of these two factors led to us not playing the game we wanted. But now, we still have one game to play, and this is not a friendly match.

You will definitely ask me if there will be rotations. Yes, there certainly will be, because I have to. However, it's out of necessity, not because it's a second-best option.

Reporter: Is giving opportunities to players who haven't had much playing time before an important consideration for you?

Didier Deschamps: That's not the main point. The point is to do everything possible to achieve our goal, which is the final goal – to win a bronze medal.

Personally, I have never participated in this kind of match. I'm not saying I enjoy playing this match, but since we are here, we must take it seriously.

England is like us; they also don't want to experience such a result. Both teams are disappointed, and also have a certain degree of physical and mental fatigue.

But the players who will play are not playing just because they are substitutes. They are players I selected for this 26-man squad, and they belong to this team.

I could have chosen other people, but I ultimately chose them. For example, some players have not had playing opportunities in this FIFA World Cup, and perhaps now is the time to give them a chance.

However, I don't want to go into details, because that's a discussion between me and the players. In fact, for various reasons, I have spoken with almost all the players.

Everyone's situation is different, and I can understand them. Some players might even prefer not to play, which is also understandable. When I make decisions, I want to have as much information as possible. And the best way to get this information is to talk to the players.

Reporter: We sincerely hope you can end this journey with a victory. Anyway, thank you very much, Didier.

Didier Deschamps: Thank you, you're too kind. I also want to thank all of your media team. I actually enjoy media work, don't get me wrong, even if sometimes it's our duty.

But besides the good relationship we have built, more importantly, you have always accompanied and supported the team, and also allowed tens of millions of French people to share these wonderful emotions.

So, when you say thank you to me, I also want to say thank you to you. Anyway, I will miss you.

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