For a man whose only club trophy is the 2012 Coupe de France, Hugo Lloris has already enjoyed a career of rare success. If Sunday will bring another indelible achievement, there is a chance it will be dwarfed by another two weeks later. When he faces Poland, The Tottenham goalkeeper will equal Lilian Thuram’s record of 142 caps for France. Everyone else, from Michel Platini to Zinedine Zidane, Thierry Henry to Marcel Desailly, is already far behind him.
Prevail in Lusail on 18 December, however, and Lloris will stand apart in footballing history. No man has captained two World Cup-winning teams. Judging by the number of times Lloris referred to being focused on a last-16 tie with the Poles, he is trying not to be distracted by the prospect of an unparalleled feat.
But the inevitability of drawing level with Thuram was impossible to ignore. “It is quite something and I am very honoured to reach that figure and that number of caps,” said the goalkeeper. “I will probably appreciate reaching that record once the competition is over and hopefully after a successful tournament.”
Didier Deschamps feels in the perfect position to assess the French nonpareils. He played with Thuram, skippering the side who won the 1998 World Cup and Euro 2000. He has selected Lloris on more than a century of occasions. They are France’s two World Cup-winning captains and the current manager said: “Hugo Lloris is playing an important game personally because of this record of caps but the French team is the important thing. If he is going to reach Thuram’s record it is because all records are there to be broken. These two players have shown exemplary professionalism and that is why they are reaching this number of caps. Some records are more important than others and it is an important one. It is testament to a long and professional career.”
Perhaps records are broken by relentlessly concentrating on the next game, the next test, the next moment. Certainly Lloris did not cast his thoughts too far into the future. “If you win, you stay. If you lose, you go back home,” he rationalised. “We want to make sure we are the team who stays. We will need to show mental strength and be 100 per cent focused.” He is aware of the pitfalls when goalkeepers take their eye off the ball, even if it did not come at a cost to the team. A failed attempt to dribble the ball around Mario Mandzukic brought one of the more comical goals ever seen in a World Cup final. It may have also resulted in Thibaut Courtois winning the award for the best goalkeeper in Russia in 2018: until then, it was arguably Lloris.
For France, the first knockout game brings back memories of possibly the outstanding game in each of their last two tournaments. They beat Argentina 4-3 in the World Cup and if Kylian Mbappe outscored Lionel Messi then, his task is to outgun Robert Lewandowski now. They drew 3-3 with Switzerland in Euro 2020, exiting on penalties. Mbappe was the culprit then, with the critical miss, but Lloris endured an evening of decidedly mixed emotions: he saved Ricardo Rodriguez’s spot kick in the match, but none of Switzerland’s quintet in the subsequent shootout. Yann Sommer was the decisive goalkeeper then and now France are contemplating the prospect of penalties again and facing another specialist.
“If a penalty is well taken a goalkeeper has little chance of stopping it,” Lloris argued. “But there are goalkeepers who are very strong in this situation.” One will be found between the posts for Poland. Wojciech Szczesny has become the first goalkeeper since Brad Friedel in 2002 to save two penalties in World Cup matches, denying Saudi Arabia’s Salem Al-Dawsari and then Messi.
France’s hopes of retaining their title could founder at either end of the pitch. “You have Lewandowski up front who is clinical and Szczesny who is playing a magnificent tournament,” Lloris said. Poland are in the knockout stages for the first time since 1986. Lewandowski is their finest player since the days of Zbigniew Boniek. “He is one of the best No. 9s in the world and has been for some years now,” Lloris said.
It could come down to a duel of goalkeeper and goalscorer. France’s gameplan is to cut out the supply line to Poland’s record scorer. “You have to try and restrict his influence,” Deschamps said. “The less he receives the ball the less he can do. He is a very clever player, technically very gifted and he knows how to use his body. He didn’t get the ball a lot in the group stages but with just one chance he can be very dangerous.” And the danger for France is that if Lloris cannot get a touch to a Lewandowski shot, he will not get his hands on the World Cup for a second time.
