Last night, the Blues suffered a major setback against Denmark in their first Nations League match. They are currently title holders of this league after beating Spain in the final in October 2021.
This was an unexpected problem, but it is not surprising when you look at the history and meetings of the French team during this time period since Didier Deschamps's arrival in 2012.
Les Bleus, the Basque coach, travels to South America for Les Bleus' first summer tour. They will face Brazil and Uruguay. Two defeats were part of the journey, with a Porto Alegre loss against Brazil (3-0) and a Porto Alegre defeat against Uruguay (1-0) just a few days later.
The France team was then in the early stages of its post-Knysna/Euro-2012 reconstruction phase.
As the World Cup approached, the Blues were undefeated. However, they faced serious opposition. It is still an embarrassment to see the draw against Paraguay (1-1) at home.
The Blues were defeated by Germany in the quarter-finals of the World Cup (1-0).
Despite being exposed in Brazil last summer, the Blues have lost their shine and are now performing poorly in 2015.
June is no exception. In March, Brazil was already outclassing the Blues at Saint-Denis. The Belgians were first to be beaten on June 7, at the Stade de France, 3-4. Two goals at the final goal saved the honour. Deschamps' team fell apart in Albania just a few days later (1-1).
Deschamps is confronted with obvious defensive weaknesses and decides to strengthen his team, even if that means abandoning offensive animation.
2016 was the Blues' best June ever. France prepares for the Euros at Home with a first victory against Scotland (3-0). The Blues are on a near perfect run. Portugal ended the Blues' dream with a devastating strike from Eder in the final.
The Blues have been experiencing a difficult post-competition June, which was the same as 2015, punctuated with a 2-1 loss in Sweden that counts for the 2018 World Cup qualifiers.
The Blues were world champions in the next year but plunged back into 2019, with a mediocre performance in Konya, Turkey (2-0) that hampered their chances of qualifying to Euro 2020. They were able to recover against the Andorran team (0-4), a few days later.
Blues won't have the time to mope after the Covid has been there. They are now back on the international stage just 18 months after the Euros to defend their crown of Qatar.
