Tchouameni: France's Pogba–Kante hybrid
There were concerns for France's midfield when Paul Pogba and Ngolo Kante were ruled out pre-tournament
Aurelien Tchouameni has stepped into both roles single-handedly
Coach Didier Deschamps has praised Tchouameni and Youssouf Fofana
France's squad is so strong that they have not appeared to miss the, perhaps now formerly, key midfield duo of Paul Pogba and Ngolo Kante. To thrive with such players absent must make them the envy of international football.
This ability to perform without the creativity of Pogba and the industry of Kante has only been possible thanks to Aurelien Tchouameni, goal scorer against England and midfield maestro when the French are under pressure.
The build-up to France's World Cup™ defence was dominated by talk of the so-called 'holders' curse' given each of the previous three defending champions had been eliminated at the group stage. This theory was given added weight when injuries to Karim Benzema, Pogba and Kante were all announced.
And yet, they could become the first European country to win successive World Cups since Italy in 1938, with large thanks to Tchouameni for playing an important part in a new-look midfield.
Tchouameni does not appear to be fazed about juggling the responsibilities usually reserved for the injured stalwarts. Asked whether the Pogba or Kante role suits him best, he replied: "It's both!
"Sometimes it's [my job] to recover some balls like today [against Morocco], and sometimes I have the opportunities to score a goal, like the last game.
"Or today when I had the almost-assists for Kylian [Mbappe] and Olivier [Giroud]. It's a mix between those two [Pogba and Kante]."
He added: "[Pogba and Kante] are great players for us.
"Unfortunately they're not here because they're injured, so we try to do our best to help the team in the middle of the pitch, and I think we do a great job."
Tchouameni's influence was highlighted by the fact his 65 touches were the joint-highest in the France team, while only Antoine Griezmann (four) played more key passes than his two.
Although his 83 per cent passing accuracy is not the highest, the Real Madrid talent showed purpose in terms of ball progression, with his eight passes in the final third only behind Kylian Mbappe and Youssouf Fofana (both nine). A riskier approach is always likely to result in less accurate distribution.
Nevertheless, he did not neglect his defensive responsibilities, tallying the second-most interceptions (four) on the pitch (Ibrahima Konate – six) and joint-highest number of recoveries (10).
Alongside Fofana, Tchouameni was part of a particularly inexperienced midfield pairing, but Didier Deschamps believes both have proven they belong at this level.
"Experience isn't everything, they have great qualities and play with top clubs," the coach told reporters. "They may not have much experience at the international level, but they are good enough to play at this level.
"They have tremendous potential, tremendous quality – and they are supported by the experienced players around them. All of the players struggled against Tunisia – Fofana had a bad game, if I'm honest with you – but he showed today, in a World Cup semi-final, that he has learned from that experience.
"Tchouameni played for us at a very young age and went to Madrid where he's slotted straight in.
"Of course, there's room for improvement, but he has all the strength to succeed at this level. I had no doubt about playing both of them in there, though, as they had experienced players around them."
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