{"id":91096,"date":"2024-07-09T13:45:04","date_gmt":"2024-07-09T13:45:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/07\/09\/a-political-fight-won-frances-stars-turn-back-to-a-soccer-one\/"},"modified":"2024-07-09T13:45:04","modified_gmt":"2024-07-09T13:45:04","slug":"a-political-fight-won-frances-stars-turn-back-to-a-soccer-one","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/07\/09\/a-political-fight-won-frances-stars-turn-back-to-a-soccer-one\/","title":{"rendered":"A Political Fight Won, France\u2019s Stars Turn Back to a Soccer One"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align:center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1050\" height=\"550\" src=\"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/07\/09\/multimedia\/09soccer-france-01-hbfw\/09soccer-france-01-hbfw-facebookJumbo.jpg?resize=1050,550&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"A Political Fight Won, France\u2019s Stars Turn Back to a Soccer One\" title=\"A Political Fight Won, France\u2019s Stars Turn Back to a Soccer One\" \/><\/div><p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">For once, Didier Deschamps could reflect on a news conference that passed by almost without incident. Given the timing, that had seemed unlikely. On Sunday, French voters had issued a stinging rebuke to their country\u2019s resurgent far right in <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/07\/07\/world\/europe\/france-election-results-left-surges.html\" title=\"\">a seismic legislative election<\/a>. On Tuesday, the country\u2019s increasingly activist soccer team will face Spain in a European Championship semifinal.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Sandwiched between the two was an appearance by Deschamps, the coach of the French national team, in the full megawatt glare of the world\u2019s news media. Although he has always been studiously inscrutable, his players have not. Over the past month, a half dozen members of his squad have made their feelings on the rise of the National Rally perfectly clear.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The forward Marcus Thuram called on the French to \u201cfight daily\u201d against the threat of the far right. The defender Jules Kound\u00e9 expressed his hope that the country would reject those who \u201cseek to take away our freedom.\u201d His teammate Ibrahima Konat\u00e9 urged that power should not be handed to \u201ccertain people who are intent on division.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Deschamps, then, may well have been expecting awkward exchanges on Monday. Instead, he found himself fielding the sort of questions that must have come as blissful relief. How fit was Kylian Mbapp\u00e9? What does he think of Spain\u2019s midfield?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">There was only one moment of tension. Deschamps had been asked by a Swedish journalist if it might be fair to characterize his France team as <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/5614352\/2024\/07\/05\/portugal-france-euro-2024-result-analysis\/\" title=\"\">a little, well, boring<\/a>: It has, after all, managed to reach the semifinals of the tournament without scoring a goal from open play.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cIf you\u2019re bored, watch something else,\u201d Deschamps replied. \u201cYou don\u2019t have to watch. We have the ability to make France happy with our results. If the Swedes are bored, it doesn\u2019t matter too much to me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In comparison with the issues that France\u2019s squad have been grappling with over the last month, the entire news conference could be safely cast as nothing more than light relief. Soccer is traditionally apolitical, by both habit and inclination. Players, as a rule, demur when asked to offer an opinion on any issue that carries even a whiff of controversy.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">A significant portion of Deschamps\u2019s squad at this tournament, though, clearly felt that was not an option.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Thuram, whose <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2008\/08\/03\/sports\/03iht-soccer.1.14965278.html\" title=\"\">politically active father<\/a> won a World Cup for France, was among the first to speak out. Another forward, Ousmane Demb\u00e9l\u00e9, noted that \u201calarm bells were ringing\u201d and asked his compatriots to \u201crally round and come together to vote.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mbapp\u00e9, the team\u2019s captain and its most influential cultural figure, warned that \u201cthe extremes are at the gates of power\u201d and admitted he did not \u201cwant to represent a country that doesn\u2019t correspond to my values, or our values.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cI hope my voice will carry as much weight as possible,\u201d he said as the election neared. \u201cI hope we\u2019ll make the right choice and that we\u2019ll still be proud to wear the French national team jersey on July 7.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The players\u2019 message was apparent but modulated just enough not to be explicit. That approach did not last long. When the results of <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/07\/01\/world\/europe\/france-election-takeaways.html\" title=\"\">the first round of the elections<\/a> came in \u2014 a day before France\u2019s first knockout game in the tournament \u2014 the National Rally had taken 33 percent of the vote. France, the country and the team, was suddenly confronted by the prospect that a far-right party would dominate government.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">When Mbapp\u00e9 spoke a few days later, he left no doubt where he stood. \u201cIt is an urgent situation,\u201d he said. \u201cWe cannot let our country fall into the hands of these people. It is pressing. We saw the results, it\u2019s catastrophic. We really hope it\u2019s going to change, that everyone is going to rally together, go and vote, and vote for the correct party.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Whether that intervention \u2014 or the compounding pressure exerted over the course of the tournament by the players, some of the most high-profile figures in French public life \u2014 made the slightest bit of difference when the country returned to the polls on Sunday is impossible to gauge.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Certainly, it will not have been as significant as the decision by France\u2019s left and coalitions to <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/live\/2024\/07\/07\/world\/france-election-2024\" title=\"\">present a united front<\/a> and withdraw candidates from about 200 districts so as not to split the anti-National Rally vote.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">That the players\u2019 voices mattered, though, can be judged from how their comments during Euro 2024 were received. The French far right has long held the country\u2019s national team in contempt. In 1998, when a multiethnic squad led France to its first World Cup victory, Jean-Marie Le Pen \u2014 the founder of the National Front, the organization that was subsequently rebranded as the National Rally \u2014 suggested the team was \u201cartificial\u201d because it included too many nonwhite players.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Eight years later, with France on its way to another World Cup final, Le Pen bemoaned that the country \u201ccould not recognize itself\u201d in a national team inspired by Zinedine Zidane, a playmaker of Algerian descent, and marshaled by Lilian Thuram, a defender born in Guadeloupe.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Over the past month, Mbapp\u00e9, Demb\u00e9l\u00e9 and the others have inspired a similar kind of reaction from Le Pen\u2019s heirs, both ideological and genetic.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cI\u2019m a little embarrassed to see these athletes giving lessons to people who can no longer make ends meet, who no longer feel safe, who do not have the chance to live in neighborhoods protected by security agents,\u201d said Jordan Bardella, the 28-year-old president of National Rally. His vice president, S\u00e9bastian Chenu, accused Mbapp\u00e9 of being \u201cquite disconnected from reality.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Marine Le Pen, Jean-Marie Le Pen\u2019s daughter and National Rally\u2019s most prominent member, advised \u201cactors, footballers and singers\u201d not to \u201ccome forward and tell French people how they should vote.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cIt is starting not to be well received in our country,\u201d she said. \u201cFrench people are fed up with being lectured and advised on how to vote. This election is an election of emancipation in which the French people want to take back control of their destiny and vote as they see fit.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">On Sunday, of course, that appeared to be precisely what happened, albeit not quite in the way that Ms. Le Pen had hoped.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Within the French squad, though, there was a feeling of overwhelming \u201crelief,\u201d <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/jkeey4\/status\/1810016857392292323\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">as Kound\u00e9 put it<\/a> on social media. Several of his teammates echoed his thoughts: Marcus Thuram offered his congratulations \u201cto all who stood up to the threat hanging over our beautiful country.\u201d The midfielder Aur\u00e9lien Tchouam\u00e9ni described Sunday\u2019s results as \u201c<a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/atchouameni\/status\/1810016151700652423\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">the victory of the people<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The political situation, of course, is much more complex than that. The sporting one is not. France has a game on Tuesday, against an impressive Spain team, for a place in the final of Euro 2024. For the first time in the tournament, many of its stars have made clear that they are still proud to carry their country\u2019s flag.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/07\/09\/world\/europe\/france-spain-euro-2024-election.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For once, Didier Deschamps could reflect on a news conference that passed by almost without incident. Given the timing, that had seemed unlikely. On Sunday, French voters had issued a stinging rebuke to their country\u2019s resurgent far right in a seismic legislative election. On Tuesday, the country\u2019s increasingly activist soccer team will face Spain in [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":91097,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/07\/09\/multimedia\/09soccer-france-01-hbfw\/09soccer-france-01-hbfw-facebookJumbo.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[4822,5238,234,10032,1365,987,14057],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91096"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=91096"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91096\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":91098,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91096\/revisions\/91098"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/91097"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=91096"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=91096"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=91096"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}