Jair Ventura
New member
Mbappe interview from Le Monde
https://www.lemonde.fr/mondial-2018...ut-donner-pour-la-france_5330713_5193650.html
What does football mean to you?
It's something I can't live without. It's more than an addiction, football is anchored in me. I always knew that's what I had to do.
Do you think, like Michel Platini, that football is "an irrational game"?
For me, football is more than a sport, just look at the impact it has on society. People come to the stadium to forget their lives for ninety minutes, and it's up to us to give them satisfaction; to get them out of their chairs and to fall asleep with stars in their eyes. When I was younger, there were players who gave me pleasure, and now I'm in that role.
Is it exhilarating to think that there are millions of people watching you?
Personally, I have the same feeling and joy of playing as when I was a child. Except there are millions of people who share that feeling with me. It's like an extra strength.
Why this obsession with performing in the field?
It's the pleasure of the game, to score, to make the teammate shine. When you do what you love, you don't want to be a transient: you haven't sacrificed your whole life to be an extra; I hope to leave my mark on football.
As a child, did you dream of winning the World Cup?
I still dream, and of all the possible titles! The World Cup is one of them because it is the biggest football competition. I think this cup is beautiful. It is gold, and gold represents supremacy. You have the impression for a fraction of a second that you are superior to others, it is a very special feeling.
You were born in December 1998, after Les Bleus won the World Cup. What did they teach you about this epic?
I was told that the country was in madness, that Zidane had scored twice in the final against the great Brazil. When you go to the youth teams in Clairefontaine, you didn't know that time, but you get the impression that you were there because they are so omnipresent.
For you, lifting the World Cup trophy is your ultimate goal?
Yes, that's the ultimate goal. At club level, there is the Champions League, which is the biggest European trophy, but the World Cup is something else, it's the country. And the country, there's nothing stronger. It is something extraordinary to say to yourself that the happiness of all French people is in your hands.
Do you consider yourself an heir to the 1998 World Champions?
No, each group has its own history, and football today is not the same as yesterday. There is no inheritance to carry, it would be like taking what belongs to them. They won the World Cup. We were not born or barely born; it is their glory, we must leave them. We want to write our history. I'm keeping my fingers crossed, but if we win the World Cup, I wouldn't like them to say in 2026 or 2030: "These are the heirs of 2018".
You're talking about the 1998 World Cup with Didier Deschamps?
We talked about it a little bit. He told us that they had a group that was strong. It's important because, in this kind of competition, you may have the best players, but it's not necessarily them who make you win a competition.
Was it a group of friends?
I don't know if they were buddies. In football, you don't have to be friends to win, but you have to make sacrifices for each other and get along well. You don't have to eat at the colleague's house every night to form a close-knit group.
A "tight-knit group" is what Didier Deschamps is trying to recreate?
Of course you do. It's one of the keys that made them win, it would be stupid not to reuse it. With the experience he has, he tries to teach us certain things so that we can have the same success.
Today, as a French team, do you want to embody the 1998 generation?
No, I want to embody France, represent France and give everything for France. When you give everything for your country, you can have beautiful things happen. I don't think you can cheat with the national team. In any case, there is no room for cheaters or those who pretend.
Do you think that a victory for France at the 2018 World Cup could do the country good?
I'm going to return the question: what country wouldn't it be good for to win a World Cup? Of course it would be good sport, even socially. It takes a lot of problems away, a World Cup. The country is happy. Whether it's the cashier, the mayor, the president, everyone will go to work with the banana.
What do people tell you when they see you?
Take the cup home!
Are you convinced that France will win the World Cup?
Convinced, no, because I don't have all the ins and outs of a competition like this one, but I believe it hard like iron.
Is France a country of supporters?
It depends: in winning, it's a country of supporters, he lives for football. The problem with defeat is that in France, you get tired quickly. We always want something new, and it's sometimes difficult for us footballers to bring that something new. You have to be constantly questioning and creating, inventing things so that people keep going to the stadium.
Do you think that the period of mistrust and virulence that the French team experienced is behind them?
I think we put the pieces back together with the audience. It started during the 2014 World Cup; there was work done on the image; even on the pitch, the players were exemplary. And as much as I was able to say that the public could not forgive the mistake, so much it was indulgent on this period by giving time to the team of France to rebuild and to return to a much higher level. We feel that the audience is trying to come up with us at the moment; we have the impression that we are one.
Football is the real meritocracy?
No. There is no guarantee that, if you are good, you will succeed, because you need more than that. That is sad. You need a strong mind even before you're a good player, because everything can fall apart overnight. And you have to be ready because you can climb so high and come down so fast. And that, for some, is difficult to live with.
But how do we prepare for that?
It's a daily preparation. It's education, learning: how to memorize and execute everything you've learned. How to react when you're facing problems. It's up to you to pay attention to everything you do, because there are good players everywhere, and not just in France. In order to survive on a global level, we need much more than playing football.
Does it hurt you to hear or read things like: "There are too many blacks in the French team"?
No, because if we win the World Cup, we will never say that there are too many black players in the French team. It is a way of avoiding problems to say that. I never heard, when the French team won a competition, whether in any sport: "Ah, they won but there were too many blacks on the team. "When you lose, it's a sporting problem; when you win, it's a sporting success.
With your notoriety, is it difficult to remain an ordinary man?
I can't be Mr. Everybody anymore. For example, you're at home, bored, going out for a walk for ice cream. It's over: I wouldn't even have time to lick it that there would already be 500 people around my ice cream. Most people experienced this notoriety at an advanced age; it started in my mid teens. I'm not gonna say it's obvious every day, but it's the life I wanted.
If you were to give one piece of advice to a young player watching you, what would it be?
That he should always believe in his dreams and not let anyone destroy them: they animate a footballer, he goes after them. And when you do, even though you're a great player, it's hard to get the machine back on track. To have a long career, you have to set yourself high goals. If your ultimate goal was to win the French championship, what do you do next? Your career is over because, unconsciously, they're going to ask you to make an effort and you're going to say to yourself: "Why do you want me to break my head running? "I won the French championship at 18 but I still have a long way to go. So I say to myself: "Go back to work to win another French championship, the Champions League, the World Cup, and lots of things. "Then, once I've won everything, when I'm asked to run again, I'll be able to say, "It's okay. »
https://www.lemonde.fr/mondial-2018...ut-donner-pour-la-france_5330713_5193650.html
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