Deschamps: It’s very good to end the World Cup preliminaries with a victory. We will send someone to North America next week to inspect the training base.

November 17th: In the final round of World Cup European qualifiers, France defeated Azerbaijan 3-1 away from home. France coach Deschamps attended the post-match press conference.

How do you evaluate this game? You used a rotation lineup

After qualifying for the World Cup in advance, I told everyone to try their best to play this game well and complete the task. We started the game poorly, but then we reacted correctly. It's great to end this World Cup with a win. We had some chances in the second half, but I also understand that players need to adjust at this time of the season. I inspected all the players through the game, except Samba, who did not play, and I got the answer to the next game tasks. In addition, this may also be the first time I have encountered VAR intervention three times in a game.

France conceded the ball early in the 4th minute. Did you expect it?

Obviously I did not expect such a start. We had a difficult start. I faced an opponent who played very aggressively and the game was at their home stadium with a full house...I wouldn't say we were not prepared, but the opponent did what was necessary. However, the 90 minutes overall were more difficult for the opponent and we played better and turned the situation around.

Akliusche scored his first goal for the French national team. His condition continues to improve.

Compared with his introverted personality at the beginning, he now seems more open-minded. His goal today was important and he was valuable. He works hard to improve his performance through playing opportunities. We have some players missing, but we still have a lot of options up front and he has stepped up to the next level and become more decisive.

What else do you think of the striker?

We have always had the ability to create opportunities and score goals, averaging more than 2 goals per game. This is Mateta's second start and he's scored, which is good for him. Ekitic is also growing in confidence. He is a young player who is full of energy and has the speed to break through the opponent's defense. These are the offensive elements we added.

Everyone is talking about the offense, but the competitive pressure on the starting players on the defensive line seems to be less. What do you think about this?

Competition always exists. Due to the new four-man defense deployed in this game, they have less understanding than the four defenders in last Thursday's game, and the defenders in the previous game are used to their positions and opportunities. We conceded a goal and made one or two mistakes, but I have no doubts about the quality of the players who came out. Nothing is set in stone yet, I know France have a lot of attacking players but equally a lot of defensive players, maybe a little less on the wings.

K-Thuram had the opportunity to score two goals in this game (one was ruled out and one was an own goal by the opponent). In that case, the number of goals he scored in one game could equal the number of goals scored by his father in the entire national team career.

He is a midfielder, and if he has the opportunity to score, he will not miss it. I wonder if he compares himself to his father, haha. He also needs more playing time and it is important to see the performance of players in the game. Of course, scoring goals will add points to his performance. He has excellent technique and breakthrough ability, which makes him different.

The World Cup group stage draw will be held in three weeks. Do you hope to be drawn into the Eastern Division?

I'm starting to get used to drawing lots, haha. It depends on the grouping, schedule, weather conditions... We will know the result on December 5th. Some staff of the national team will go to North America for inspection next week, and we will determine the training base for the World Cup after the draw. For now, there are two groups that look better for different reasons, as the distance traveled during the group stage is shorter and the temperatures are more comfortable.