Let's be honest, France's 1-0 win over Sweden in Marseille on Tuesday evening won't be mentioned in the history books of the French national team. It was a boring affair, Paul Pogba was disappointing for the second game in a row, the newcomers (Joshua Guilavogui, Layvin Kurzawa, Eliaquim Mangala, Dimitri Payet and Andre-Pierre Gignac) were unconvincing and Zlatan Ibrahimovic opted to train with Paris Saint-Germain than be at the Velodrome.
Of course, though, there was Raphael Varane, who is always a joy to watch. Not only was he faultless defensively, but the captain in the absence of Hugo Lloris also scored the winner, his first goal for France.
It's just as well that it came in the last match of 2014 for Les Bleus. What a year it was. Fifteen games played, one defeat (against Germany in Brazil), a new team spirit, new leaders (Varane, Pogba), a convincing World Cup with a place in the quarterfinals, three retirements (Franck Ribery, Samir Nasri and Eric Abidal) and a blossoming relationship with the adoring French public, too. All that in just 12 months. Didier Deschamps has done a fantastic job.
He managed to eradicate the tensions in the dressing room, mostly by leaving at home troublemakers like Nasri, Jeremy Menez and Hatem Ben Arfa. He brought a more disciplined and hard-working approach, he who was educated footballistically by the Italians.
And as we close the book on 2014 in terms of international football, we are already looking forward to 2015. This is the reality of top-level football. You are only as good as your next game.
The next game will be against Brazil on March 26 at the Stade de France. The opposition will wear the same colour as Sweden but will surely offer a much tougher test. That performance against Neymar & Co. will set the tone for 2015, a year that will get Deschamps and his players closer to "their" Euro 2016. The preparation for the hosts will continue. The manager will test more tactics, more players. He will seek to reaffirm the positives of 2014 and will correct the flaws of 2014 (weakness on set pieces, being more efficient up front, for example).
In addition to the countdown of a French-hosted European Championship and the honeymoon the side are enjoying with the public, there are four points that make 2015 even more exciting for France.
Seeing more of Varane and Pogba
The Real Madrid defender never ceases to impress me. On Tuesday, he had an easy game. He played at 50 percent but everything he did was perfect. And now he can add "goal-scorer" to his repertoire. At just 21, I cannot remember a defender that was so good, so young, apart maybe Franz Beckenbauer. His ascent has been incredible, put into context by the fact that by wearing the armband on Tuesday, he became France's youngest captain in 104 years.
"I like taking my responsibilities like I did tonight," he told me after the game. You know you can rely on him for that.
The same can't be said of Paul Pogba. He was dreadful against Albania on Friday and very average again on Tuesday. Before the Sweden tilt, Deschamps was quite critical of his midfield prodigy.
"Everything is easy for Paul on the pitch," the French boss began. "But between finding it easy and being too easy there is a thin line. Paul has to think about that." Pogba didn't redeem himself. He lost possession too frequently, was not precise enough in his passing and often made the wrong choices on the ball. Of course, he is an amazing talent and is only 21. Similar to Varane, I am not sure we have seen a midfielder so good at such a young age.
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