N'Golo Kanté: The river that never stops flowing

N'Golo Kanté stepped up to collect his second man of the match award in four days, carrying with him majestic echoes of the past, sending a quiet but confident message about France's future at Euro 2024.

“I think we had a good feeling,” said Kanté, reminding those who were disappointed by France’s goalless draw with the Netherlands that there was nothing to be upset about: “I think the performance was good. We are disappointed not to win but I think everything that happened was good.”

Kylian Mbappé’s facial condition may have become a national obsession, but Kanté, the tournament’s favourites, is also feeling uneasy. Whatever anyone says, Kanté is 99% truthful. He says it like it is. He says France are fine, which means … watch out. That’s a threat.

Much focus has been placed on what France failed to do in their first two games: they failed to score enough goals, with or without Mbappé, and their only goal was an own goal against Austria. While that has become a haunting observation for observers, Kanté’s brilliance has gone unnoticed, except by France’s opponents.

It was a surprise, if not the one that was expected, when Didier Deschamps named Kanté to France. He had been out of the international game for two years, the diminutive midfielder’s last cap coming in June 2022. France reached the 2022 World Cup final without him, injury kept him out of the trip, and the curtain seemed to fall on his move to Saudi Arabia six months later. Surely France should have set their sights higher for their midfield than the 33-year-old, who plays for Al-Ittihad.

Now it has been discovered that Kanté is incapable of giving up on anything. When announcing his squad, Deschamps said that Kanté had “been able to regain all his footballing ability by playing a lot of games”. Granted, the Saudi Pro League is a completely different league to the Premier League, where Kanté was arguably ahead of the rest five years ago. But remember, Kanté is an extraordinary player with extraordinary footballing intelligence, and he has picked up where he left off brilliantly.

Two Euro 2024 games, two Man of the Match awards. Kanté is back in form and France, after all their frustrations up front, once again have a leader who brings out the best in them. They are more fluid in midfield when Kanté is around: more available and quick to react, to switch positions. Suddenly, France are blessed with a leader on the pitch who can maintain tactical discipline but also be ready for any challenge.

“The national team is always important to me,” said Kanté. “I just want to give everything, and that’s exactly what I did tonight.” Against the Netherlands, who had a formidable midfielder in the dynamic Tijjani Reijnders, Kanté was again outstanding. He helped France regain control after a shaky start, and he also provided Antoine Griezmann with a pass that opened up a big chance, which Griezmann failed to beat goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen.

Assuming Mbappé returns to full form, coupled with a Kanté who is fully adept at solving defensive problems with finesse, France are truly fearsome. They have no problem scoring goals with so many good attackers, and now they have Kanté in full bloom. “He’s still running out there,” Deschamps joked to reporters as the clock ticked towards midnight. Like a river, Kanté doesn’t stop. If there’s anything stopping France from winning the title, it’s not Kanté.

HO VIET

Source: https://www.sggp.org.vn/ngolo-kante-dong-song-khong-the-ngung-chay-post746101.html