ANTOINE GRIEZMANN walked out of a press conference after a question about his France future – while firing a subtle dig at Didier Deschamps
Griezmann featured in all six of France’s Euro 2024 games before crashing out in the semi-finals to Spain.
The Atletico Madrid star started in the opening two, and in the two knockout stages before being benched in the semis.
Griezmann did come off the bench against Spain but could not prevent his nation from slipping to a 2-1 defeat.
And he appeared to take a thinly-veiled swipe at under-fire boss Deschamps for leaving him out.
He said: “I started badly. Afterwards, I felt better and better, and I ended up on the bench.
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“We’ll come back. I tried to give my all with a lot of tactical and positional changes. You had to adapt all the time.”
Griezmann – who won the 2018 World Cup with France and has 44 goals in 135 matches – was then asked if he will consider international retirement.
But the former Barcelona forward sighed and let out a little laugh as he walked off.
Griezmann was not the only one to get pressed on his future within the French national side with manager Deschamps also pressed.
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But he snapped back: “Ask my president. I’ve just lost a semi-final. Do you think I’m already going to answer?
“I respect you, but try to respect the people who have responsibilities too.
Inside Jordan Pickford’s penalty saving technique as he bids to be England’s Euros hero
JORDAN PICKFORD has regularly been the hero when it comes to a penalty shootout for his country, writes Jon Boon.
The England and Everton goalkeeper, 30, saved Manuel Akanji’s effort for Switzerland to hand the Three Lions an advantage in their shootout win in their Euro 2024 quarter-final.
Now, with the help of Goalkeeper.com, we’ve uncovered Pickford’s penalty-saving technique.
USES HISTORIC TRENDS
Pickford is well prepared when it comes to facing the ball from 12-yards.
His water bottle trick has become infamous with the list of penalty takers and direction of shot taped on to it.
But you cannot always listen blindly to most probable placements, and a goalkeeper’s intuition should also play a role.
That human element remains important.
UTILISES A MIXED STRATEGY
Being a goalkeeper is often called the ‘loneliest job’ in the world.
And when it comes to penalties, your team-mates are solely reliant upon your strategy to save one.
Often, we’ve seen goalies who prefer to favour one side – and continuously dive one way.
However, Pickford adopts a mixed strategy.
Sometimes, he will dive to the power side – saving from Jorginho in the Euro 2020 final.
His save from Akanji in the Swiss shootout was made on the placement side.
TECHNICAL EXECUTION OF DIVE
Goalkeepers are hindered during penalty shootouts – with the Fifa rulebook meaning they have to stay on the line until the shot is taken.
That means the lift off of your dive has to be executed a certain way.
Pickford launches himself from his back foot behind the line, pushes his body weight forwards, makes no large negative step and keeps both hands active to make the save.
This was put into effect when he made saves from Italy’s Andrea Belotti in 2020 and Colombia’s Carlos Bacca at the 2018 World Cup.
France’s Mike Maignan, by comparison, takes a large negative step, and struggles to reach his posts.
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Interestingly, Pickford is better at saving penalties in shootouts for England than in his overall career average, and better at saving in shootouts vs in game.
Clearly, Pickford performs better in an England shirt and when there is bigger pressure.
Read our full analysis of Jordan Pickford’s penalty-saving techniques…
“I’m telling you this calmly. What happened happened. I’m here to answer your questions, but I’m not going to answer this one today.
“You know very well the situation and what my president thinks. So you shouldn’t even have asked the question.”
Deschamps won the World Cup and European Championship as a France international.
And he took over as boss of the national side in 2012 and led them to World Cup glory in 2018 with a final loss to Argentina four years later.
Deschamps last year extended his contract until 2026 with his eyes on the World Cup in North America.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
