World Cup final: Five tough calls that under-fire France coach Didier Deschamps has been vindicated by

The oft-criticised coach has found some answers amid a deluge of questions

France are through to the World Cup final thanks to Deschamps learning some lessons (Getty)

Didier Deschamps has come under intense scrutiny at this World Cup but deserves far more credit for guiding his side to the final.

There’s a feeling outside his homeland that France have got this far in spite of rather than because of the 49-year-old but the former midfielder has shaped this team far more than his critics around the world appear to realise.

Deschamps has made some bold calls in his tactics and team selection, and most of them have paid off.

The most obvious concerns Benjamin Pavard. Picking Pavard is exactly the type of brave decision Deschamps supposedly shies away from but the manager's choice to blood and then stay loyal to the youngster has proved a masterstroke.

At Stuttgart Pavard plays as a centre-back. At the Lille youth academy, he learned the game as a centre-back or central midfielder. Yet Deschamps saw enough in Pavard’s right-back performances for France U21s to believe the youngster could do a job in that position, and called him up with that in mind in November 2017.

In the build-up to the finals, Deschamps came under pressure to pick a more experienced alternative. The injury Djibril Sidibe suffered in April, and which has hampered him throughout this tournament, led to demands that Mathieu Debuchy be recalled.

Ex-Arsenal right-back Debuchy has 27 caps and was so impressive on loan at St Etienne during the second-half of 2017-18 that he won Ligue 1’s February Player of the Month award. Deschamps stood by Pavard, however, naming the youngster in the squad and then the team for France’s opening game against Australia. At the time Pavard had made just two starts for France yet he’s rewarded Deschamps’ faith in him with a series of sure-footed performances and that sumptuous volleyed goal versus Argentina.

Opting for Lucas Hernandez on the opposite flank was another audacious call. Barcelona’s Lucas Digne and PSG’s Layvin Kurzawa had featured extensively for France in the two seasons since Euro 2016, but Deschamps overlooked the pair’s claims and plumped for a man in form instead.

It was a bigger gamble than many appreciate. Aged 22, the Atletico Madrid defender made his France debut as late as March this year. He had played just 104 minutes for France when the World Cup squad was announced. Yet he started ahead of Benjamin Mendy in France’s opening game and has been a solid defensive presence ever since.

Deschamps’ major achievement, however, has been to pull off something many thought impossible: getting Paul Pogba to play effectively in a midfield two.

Before the finals Pogba’s stock had fallen to the point that the Manchester United star was no longer seen as an automatic starter. Consider these comments from Deschamps’ former France team-mate Christophe Dugarry, now one of the country’s leading pundits, in March: “For me, Pogba’s lost his place as a titulaire, an automatic starter in the starting line-up. Kante’s indispensable, and if you play in a 4-4-2, it’s Matuidi or Tolisso alongside him. Right now, Tolisso’s better than Pogba.”

Many shared Dugarry’s concerns. Over the past month, however, Deschamps has coaxed the most consistently influential international performances of Pogba’s career out of the 25-year-old by playing him in a role in which he critics said he would never thrive.

It hasn't been easy being France coach (AFP/Getty Images)

For that, Deschamps deserves enormous credit, and especially for the way he stood by his man when Pogba​ went through troubled times at Old Trafford earlier this year.

When Pogba was dropped by his club and relations with Jose Mourinho became strained, Deschamps publicly supported the player, stressing Pogba would remain an important figure for France. The two men’s bond was strengthened. The pair have mutually benefitted this summer.

Having Blaise Matuidi alongside him has helped Pogba do so well. This is another tick next to Deschamps' name. By calling Matuidi into the side for his country’s second game against Peru Deschamps may merely have been correcting the error of sending out France for their opening fixture in a 4-3-3 formation that didn’t work. Yet tournaments are often about making the correct decisions as events unfold. This one definitely falls into that category.

Pogba has finally found form in a blue shirt (AFP/Getty Images)

Matuidi had occasionally operated for PSG as a left-sided piston, but never for France, and it was not on the cards for him to be used in the role. He’s been excellent, providing much-needed balance and setting a crucial example off the ball to his occasionally more lackadaisical team-mates. The aggressive pressing and anticipation that’s instinctive to him has rubbed off on others, spreading irrepressibly across the team in the semi-final win over Belgium.

Legitimate questions remain. It’s a mystery why Deschamps devoted so much time in France’s warm-up friendlies to testing a midfield diamond yet to be used in Russia. It’s odd that at the press conference at which he named his 23-man squad he described Mbappe as a “central striker” only to exclusively use the teenager as a winger - albeit one with licence to move infield - when the action got under way. The suspicion that France might have thrilled us more if only Deschamps had let them off the leash will linger long after the tournament has finished.

What’s undeniable, however, is that Deschamps knows what he’s doing. Four successful calls – on Pavard, Hernandez, Pogba and Matuidi – have his name all over them. He’s built this team exactly the way he wanted. He's just one step away from the ultimate vindication.