The Les Blues last won a major international trophy in 2003 when they lifted the FIFA Confederations Cup.
France 11/2 to win the World Cup
Since then, France reached the World Cup final in 2006, but lost to Italy. They were one of the hot favourites to win the Euro 2016, with the likes of Paul Pogba, Antoine Griezmann, N’Golo Kante and Dimitri Payet at Deschamps’ service. But they lost out to Portugal in the final, with Eder scoring the winner in extra-time.
As the 2018 World Cup in Russia approaches, Silvestre feels that France are once again among the favourites but warned that the team needs to have its own strong identity in order to live up to its hype.
“France are one of the favourites? Why not? Still, there is the question of philosophy or style of play,” Silvestre told Goal. “Sometimes we don’t perform because I think we are lacking a blueprint or strong identity.
“We won’t be able to find the answer [like during the loss to Sweden in June]. Our collective performance is sometimes not good as individual performances. We have to improve on that aspect.”
However, Silvestre did go on to state that France has an abundance of top quality talents coming into the national team fold, highlighting the emergence of Tiemoue Bakayoko, Kylian Mbappe and Ousmane Dembele.
The former Man United and Arsenal defender put that down to the nature of Ligue 1 where it is easier for youngsters to play regularly at a young age, as opposed to the Premier League.
“I think we have always had a lot of youngsters coming in. The academy and coaching system in France is very good,” he elaborated. “You had Bakayoko who went to Monaco and then to Chelsea. Then Dembele who is now at Barcelona and Mbappe.
“And every league club has a performing academy and that is the number one reason. What you have in France (for youngsters) is the possibility to play in Ligue 1. Therefore their progression becomes faster. The national team, therefore, has the benefit of picking a lot of youngsters.”
The 40-year-old also explained why he thinks youngsters in France stood a good chance of progressing quickly, compared to the youth in England.
“In France, when they (young talents) reach 18 or 19 they can play in Ligue 1,” Silvestre asserted. “In the Premier League [in England], they have no chance to play in the first team before they reach 22-23.
“They go on loan (in England) here, they go on loan there and there’s no space for them in the first team.
“In France, they have this opportunity (to play in the first team). So they can keep growing. They play for the reserves early on and they carry on and play for the first team.”
