France coach Zidane held a press conference to announce his first squad list since taking over and answered questions from the media. This article is the second part of the press conference.

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Hello Zinedine, will Kylian Mbappé be your captain? Also, there has been a lot of talk and news about the Ballon d'Or recently. As the national team coach, do you feel it's necessary to take a position on this? Will you communicate with your attacking players who are competing for this award?

There will always be discussions and debate about these things, but I don't intend to get involved at that level. Yes, Kylian is now my player, and he will be my captain. That's very clear and not up for discussion. As for the rest, I won't comment on the various considerations about the Ballon d'Or at this moment, nor will I participate in the topics currently being worked on and discussed.

Hello Zinedine, I apologize, but I have to press a bit more on the Ballon d'Or, because this subject has really dominated the media in recent days. You yourself won the Ballon d'Or, you played with several Ballon d'Or winners during your playing career, and you've also coached Ballon d'Or winners as a coach. So you're in a very special and authoritative position, and you know deeply that when an individual award like this overshadows the collective interests of the team, it can sometimes cause problems at the group level. Given this, do you think you should blow the whistle on the situation, or will you let the players manage and handle this themselves?

No, to be clear, I won't blow the whistle, because freedom of expression will exist regardless. These are discussions and debates, and everyone has the right to say what they want. As you said, I know what it means to win the Ballon d'Or, and in a way, every player has the ambition to win it one day, and we must respect that.

Also, there are occasionally some small discussions, but frankly, when we all come together again, there won't be any controversy or special discord. I think this is mainly external noise and attention, which is normal and should be accepted. But within the team, I don't think there will be problems. We'll have one clear objective: the four matches we're going to play—especially that third away game against Turkey (laughs).

Hello Zidane, you have four matches to play in two weeks. Does that leave enough time for tactical organization and specific exercises? Or for this first training camp, what is your main focus?

Tactical work will need to happen regardless. There won't be much training time given that we're playing basically every three days and traveling frequently for away matches. But at the same time, that's also beneficial, because we have four matches and can spend 15 days together, which is very good for everyone to get to know each other—especially for our coaching staff and players to build cohesion. Playing four matches in 15 days means very limited recovery time. So we need to ensure everyone is ready to play, and that's why the squad was selected with this consideration in mind.

Hello Zinedine, you once said—or at least the president stated publicly at your inauguration—he said: "When I met Zinedine, Zinedine told me: 'I know how to win'". So I want to ask you, since you ended your last coaching role in 2021, when you've watched and followed the French national team, have you always done so with the forward-thinking eye of a potential national team coach? Especially during the Paris 2024 Olympics, when you attended in person and many of the young players you've now called up participated—such as Adrien Truffert, Guillaume Restes, Michael Olise, and Rayan Cherki—did attending those Olympics and observing these young players' performances deeply influence or inspire your recruitment decisions?

I've always followed the French national team. For a long time, I was a player for this team, and I won with this team. What more can I say? I have extremely deep feelings for this team. And now, being able to coach this French national team, I feel deeply the great responsibility of this role and understand clearly what has been entrusted to me.

At the same time, I'm here to coach this team and try to maintain continuity, because continuity is what matters most. Everyone was talking about so-called "disruption," but there is no disruption. I want to maintain this continuity while incorporating some of my own ideas and passing them on to my players. Simply put, it's about bringing everything I'm good at and know as a coach to this team.

There are several players from Serie A in this squad, including some new faces or nearly entirely new call-ups, like Dayot Upamecano. I'd like to know your reasons for calling him up, and Kalulu. I really want to know your specific reasons for selecting them. Also, does the upcoming match against Italy hold special significance for you personally?

I chose these two players purely because they deserve to be in our team—it's that simple. They're players I want to personally assess. Speaking of Luca, he's a very distinctive player who has shown strong qualities, and I'd like to see how he performs in our team. Like many other excellent players, he's eligible for the national team, and today he's here with us.

Traduzido por IA.

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