Ousmane Dembele says France want to end Didier Deschamps' 14-year reign with a place in the World Cup final, and he insists the coach's planned exit is not pulling the squad off course. Deschamps announced in January that he will step down after the tournament, and Dembele said the players are focused on the football, not the farewell.
The timing explains why the remarks matter now. France are days from their last warm-up against Northern Ireland at Stade Pierre-Mauroy before heading to North America, and they are doing so with a manager who has already delivered the 2018 World Cup, the 2020-21 Nations League and a run to the final four years ago, where they lost to Argentina on penalties. Dembele also called Deschamps central to his own career, saying the coach has backed the players and still checks in after matches.
That message carries weight because Deschamps' record is hard to dismiss. He has won 114 of his 178 matches in charge, a return that has kept France among the most consistent teams in international football and has given this squad reason to treat his last tournament as something more than a farewell tour. Dembele framed the target plainly: France want to finish well with him by reaching the final.
Yet the clean storyline has already been interrupted. France opened their World Cup preparations with a 2-1 defeat to Ivory Coast, despite Rayan Cherki's first-half goal, before Guela Doue and Amad Diallo turned the game in the second half. Dembele did not play in that match because he had been involved in Paris Saint-Germain's Champions League victory over Arsenal, a reminder that the squad will arrive at the tournament carrying both club fatigue and the pressure of a changing national-team era.
France now have one more test against Northern Ireland before their Group I campaign begins on June 16 against Senegal, with Iraq and Norway also in the group. The next few days will show whether Deschamps' farewell becomes an added burden or the kind of edge that pushes France deeper into the tournament one last time for the coach.
