France coach Didier Deschamps has instructed his players in his own version of the three Cs – calm, confidence and concentration – as preparation for Sunday’s World Cup final against Croatia.
Advertisement
The French are favourites to win the World Cup when they take on the Croatians at Luzhniki stadium but Deschamps is well aware they were also fancied to beat Portugal in the Euro 2016 final, which they lost.
Deschamps revealed he had come up with a variation on the industry model for success – company, customers and competitors – to help his players deal with the pressures of playing such a big game.
“It’s a huge pleasure and privilege to play in such a match, there’s nothing more beautiful as a professional football player than to play in the World Cup final,” he told reporters on Saturday.
“We have prepared them as best we can. We must stay calm, we must have confidence and we must concentrate – these are the three words we’ve have been focusing on to get them ready for the final.”
France forward Antoine Griezmann could hold the key to a win for the favourites. Photo: EPA
Advertisement
Deschamps said France were a very different team than the one that lost to Portugal in Paris two years ago, which inevitably meant they lacked something in experience compared to the Croatians.
