The dining areas for the first team and youth squads weren't located together. After exchanging contact information with Griezmann and Lacazette, Julien went his separate way.
Julien casually asked about Varane's situation as well.
Griezmann replied, "He's definitely a starter now. After all, he's an important rotation player at Real Madrid. We were just saying he should already be with the first team."
Varane was indeed the template of a top-class center-back.
Despite his youth, Varane already possessed excellent positional awareness and anticipation skills. He excelled at cutting off opponents' passing lanes through early positioning and could remain calm under high-pressure defending, rarely making reckless tackles. He could initiate attacks from the back, fitting perfectly into Real Madrid's possession-based tactical system.
Moreover, with his 1.91-meter height and excellent jumping ability, he had significant advantages in aerial duels.
As for Varane's explosive power and recovery speed among center-backs, these were truly top-tier qualities, effectively covering gaps behind the defensive line and dealing with quick counterattacks.
This was why Mourinho was willing to trust this young man who wasn't even twenty yet.
What impressed Julien most was Varane's mental state on the field—he was very mature with strong pressure-handling abilities.
It was just a matter of how long Deschamps would be willing to officially promote Varane to the first team.
Julien still had his "Friend-Football" to play—Varane, Giroud, Kanté, Griezmann, and later Mbappé, Saliba, and others.
Afternoon
France's official training began.
Deschamps made some adjustments for the next match against Belarus, addressing the team's somewhat lackluster attacking performance against defensive setups in the previous game.
"Frank, Cabaye, Giroud—you three must constantly stretch their formation in the final third and exhaust their stamina!"
Deschamps planned to bring Julien on as a substitute to finish them off.
"Especially you, Cabaye. You only have half a game, so you need to impact them with everything you've got!"
"Understood!"
Cabaye's spirits lifted. Getting a starting opportunity at right wing for the French national team was incredible.
Perhaps worried that Julien might have concerns, after training ended, Deschamps specifically sought him out for a private chat.
"Everyone knows you're our wing nuclear weapon. Belarus will definitely pack heavy troops there. I don't want you grinding it out in physical battles. Prepare well—I hope you can blow them away in the second half."
Julien nodded.
He didn't really mind whether he started or came off the bench; to him, there wasn't much difference.
As long as they could win, he'd get his victory points regardless.
Of course, there were disappointing moments, like the match against Saint-Étienne where the final draw yielded no victory points.
But over a long season, Julien didn't expect to win every single match.
People aren't machines.
Long periods of competition place enormous physical and psychological pressure on players.
Many teams start the season looking unstoppable, then collapse completely in the latter half.
Here, we must mention two North London clubs—you know which ones.
Evening
The French team held tactical briefings, focusing on familiarizing themselves with Belarus's tactics, players, head coach, and other details.
This was the coaching staff's work—players only needed to absorb this information and execute according to the coach's arrangements.
"Belarus head coach Kondratyev spent most of his playing career with Dinamo Minsk, and before coaching Belarus, he also managed Dinamo Minsk. From these matches, we can see he's an extremely conservative coach who prioritizes defense, emphasizes solid defensive lines, commonly uses 5-4-1 or 4-5-1 formations, focuses on compressing space and quick counterattacks."
Stefan methodically presented this information.
Then Deschamps said, "I think some of you, when you were under Blanc, witnessed Belarus's defensive capabilities. Last time, in the European Championship qualifiers group stage, we lost 1-0 to them. I remember that was in September 2010."
Evra, Ribéry, and other players looked somewhat embarrassed. They hadn't been in that match.
After the South Africa World Cup, Blanc replaced Domenech as France's new head coach, and the "training boycott" incident was subsequently dealt with, resulting in suspensions for key players including Ribéry and Evra.
That was arguably the worst French team ever.
France dominated possession but was completely ineffective against Belarus's defense.
Finally, in the 86th minute, little Hleb assisted Kisliak in scoring the game's only goal.
Only then did Deschamps begin explaining his tactics.
On the way back to their rooms, Julien laughingly said to Giroud, "You've got quite a responsibility. Good luck."
Giroud smiled helplessly.
In Deschamps' tactics, the focus was on wing attacks and 45-degree crosses.
As the central target man, Giroud bore significant responsibility—physical battles with defenders.
Before Sleep
Giroud sent Julien a link: "Someone's actually criticizing you. Unbelievable."
Julien chuckled, "I'm not gold—I can't expect everyone to like me."
Julien clicked the link to take a look.
It was just some French fan who thought Julien hogged the ball too much, had low conversion rates, was weak in physical duels, and that his flashy moves served no purpose.
Most of the comments below refuted him.
Some gave friendly reminders: "If your eyes don't work well, I suggest booking an appointment with an ophthalmologist immediately. If your brain doesn't work, that's more troublesome—I suggest calling emergency services right away."
Julien also saw a somewhat familiar phrase.
"Criticizing Julien is like throwing an axe at the sky. The sky is so vast and endless that no matter how high you throw, you can't even touch a hair of it."
Julien just smiled it off.
September 11th
The French team held a pre-match press conference at Clairefontaine. Deschamps' interview was unremarkable—it was quite formulaic.
But on the same day, Spain's match generated some discussion.
When Spanish goalkeeper Casillas was interviewed, he said, "It's strange that the World Champions don't automatically qualify for the Brazil World Cup. We could indeed miss the World Cup finals. It's weird not to see the champion team fighting to defend their title. World Champions should automatically qualify for the World Cup."
"We hope to get our first three points. Theoretically, these matches won't cause us too much trouble—except for the match against France."
Spanish fans strongly agreed with automatic World Cup qualification for defending champions.
While they used to think securing first place in the group was a sure thing, seeing France's recent changes made some fans slightly worried.
Of course, most fans remained very confident, "It doesn't matter, we'll just destroy all opponents."
September 12th
At 6 PM, the starting lineups for France vs Belarus were announced.
Fans were shocked.
"Julien isn't starting?!"
________________________________________________________
Check out my patreon where you can read more chapters:
patreon.com/LorianFiction
Thanks for your support!