Deschamps aiming immortality

A win in the match against Lionel Messi-led Argentina in the FIFA World Cup 2022 final on Sunday will set Didier Deschamps to a height where no man has been before.

Deschamps, a born winner as a player, led his side to their first-ever World Cup glory in 1998 and European Championship in 2000. Has brought his charm to his managerial career with France too as they are the only side to enter into the final on Sunday as the Champions since Brazil in 1998.

Deschamps, aged only 24, captained Marseille to a Champions League final victory over the mighty AC Milan in 1993. Later, when he won the Champions League with Juventus in 1997, his former French teammate Eric Cantona gave him the nickname ‘water carrier’ for not getting the glory despite his importance on the field.

Deschamps is very admired by his players, maybe because of his achievements in his career as a player. Antoine Griezmann who wears Deschamps’ no. 7 for the French side said, “I owe him everything in my international career. I give everything for the shirt, for France, but also for him.

“Every game, every action is like me saying thank you to him. I want to do everything to make him proud of his number seven,” said the Atletico Madrid star, who is having a brilliant run in the tournament.

After the disaster in South Africa in the 2010 World Cup, Deschamps was handed the job by the French FA to rebuild a side that can compete at the highest level, and a decade later, France are playing back-to-back World Cup finals, winning the previous one.

In 2018, Deschamps entered the elite club of only three to have won the World Cup both as a player and a manager following Brazil’s Mario Zagallo and Germany’s Franz Beckenbauer.

If his team wins on Sunday, he will level Brazilian legend Pele’s record of winning three World Cup titles and will certainly become the most decorated national team manager in the history of international football having already won the UEFA Nations League in 2020-21.

Vittorio Pozzo, who coached the Italy side in the 1934 and 1938 campaigns, is the only football manager to have won two world Cup titles as coach to date.