Why I Took Off Giroud, Dembele Against Argentina – Deschamps Opens Up

France’s head coach, Didier Deschamps, explained why he substituted Olivier Giroud and Ousmane Dembele during the first half of the 2022 World Cup final.

France was losing 2-0 to Argentina when Deschamps replaced Giroud and Dembele with Marcus Thuram and Randal Kolo Muani.

Despite the early substitutions, France managed to tie the game 3-3 in extra time, but ultimately lost in a penalty shootout.

Deschamps said he made the changes because he was not satisfied with the team’s performance and believed they could do better.

“We didn’t do the right things for an hour, but then with a lot of courage, energy and quality, we pushed Argentina to the limit.

“If I made those changes so early, it is because I was not satisfied and I felt convinced we could do better.

“That doesn’t mean the players who went off were more guilty than the others,” Deschamps told reporters of his decision to remove the two players before the interval.

He added that the players who were substituted were not necessarily more guilty than the others.