SuperSport Unplugged spent some time with former France international Louis Saha to chat all things football particularly the Uefa Euro 2024. Saha’s career spanned over 15 years, during which he left an indelible mark on European football.
Saha has been following the Euro 2024 like any other football fanatic but with a keen interest on the French national team. He shares his views on France potential, Didier Deschamps and Kylian Mbappe’s recent nose injury and how Mbappe compares to Cristiano Ronaldo.
“It has been a shaky start for France (at Euro 2024) and this year they didn’t have a typical preseason. They are used to working out before any competition to get going… There are some elements where you can see that they can do better. I am not worried; they need to perform, and I think game by game this team can really grow in confidence,” Saha said.
Looking at the comparison between his generation at national team level and the current one – Saha believes the game has really progressed. “It’s all about the intensity, the tempo is different now. In our era, the game was up and down, less tactical awareness. Everything was about personal identity where players could express themselves more with players like Patrick Viera, Zinedine Zidane and all those players,” said Saha.
Saha began his professional journey with French club Metz in 1997, where his natural talent quickly caught the attention of larger clubs. In 2000, he moved to England, joining Fulham. Saha’s time at Fulham was transformative; his impressive goal-scoring record helped the club secure promotion to the Premier League in 2001. His pace, agility, and finishing ability made him a fan favourite and a feared opponent.
“The intensity has changed, VAR is one of the elements that has changed the game… This format of the competition is very interesting for me. You have teams like Albania, Scotland, Georgia as part of the competition because of this format. It’s great for smaller nations, it’s great for the fans but in terms of games in a season I think that’s too much (for the players),” he said.
In this conversation, we also gave Saha three names of players and he had to decide, who to start, who to bench and who to drop. Not an easy choice if the selection includes Mbappe, Thierry Henry and Erling Haaland. Saha’s reaction… “Oh my God!”
The choice did not get any easier as he also had to choose between Zinedine Zidane, Jude Bellingham and Andres Iniesta.