Flourishing at international level is about a combination of persistence, momentum and opportunity, and rarely have those trio of features been as boldly displayed together in recent times as by Kevin Gameiro. The 29-year-old always seemed destined to be a player’s player - respected and admired in the game, but given scant credit outside it. Events in the last few months and particularly in the last few days threaten to change that forever.
The Atlético Madrid forward will lead the line for France for a second successive game in tonight’s World Cup qualifying match with the Netherlands, enjoying a moment that even he, amidst all his determination, must have feared would never come. Gameiro is hardly your typical lone striker, standing at a modest 178cm, and while his finishing is typically exemplary, his WhoScored profile rates his participation in aerial duels as his sole significant weakness.
The devil is in the detail with the important thing to underline, of course, is that Gameiro isn’t really alone. In Didier Deschamps’ ostensible 4-2-3-1 formation - which, in terms of flexibility and personnel, doubles as a de facto 4-4-2 - he has his club mate Antoine Griezmann right behind him, both figuratively and tangibly. Friday night’s 4-1 win over Bulgaria (which laid a few decades of ghosts on the way to getting France up and running) was garnished with possibility for the future, with Gameiro scoring twice and Griezmann netting once.
The contribution of France’s third forward ‘G’, Olivier Giroud, was indisputably important during the summer, having scored three times in six Euro 2016 matches and having generally offered a useful focal point for the team’s more adroit attackers and midfielders. Yet already the replication of the click between Gameiro and Griezmann at club level on the international stage makes one think that the Arsenal centre-forward is likely to be squeezed out of top billing for his country, just as he has been in the day job.
The Atleti pair’s individual numbers look healthy. Gameiro’s double strike on Friday night means he has three goals in three France starts. The first of those was in 2011, emphasising the peripatetic nature of his international career to date. Griezmann’s own contribution at Stade de France brought him to a steadily-improving total of 14 goals in 37 appearances for Les Bleus. It’s worth noting, however, that half of those have been delivered in his last eight matches for the national team. At 25 years of age, and apparently approaching the peak of his powers, this is very much Griezmann’s time.
Yet why their performances against Bulgaria really mean something, for now and for the future, is because of the burgeoning understanding between the pair. If the ultimate panacea in international football is transplanting a successful, working mechanism from club level directly into an international line-up, where time to work together is short, then Deschamps just might have struck gold here.
In the opening weeks of the season, Gameiro and Griezmann have already fostered an excellent partnership. The latter leads the way at the top of La Liga’s goal charts with six, with the former only has half as many - but that’s only half of the story. Gameiro has three assists to go with his three goals, and the grateful recipient in each and every one of those cases has been his compatriot, Griezmann. Between them, the pair have scored 64% of the goals for Diego Simeone’s league leaders. A developing telepathy was ratified by Griezmann returning the compliment for Gameiro on Friday night, setting up his clubmate’s second with a typical pacey spin and cross from the left.
Simeone must be thanking his lucky stars. He was open with Gameiro when trying to sign him that he wasn’t his first choice - the Argentinian coach would have ideally liked Diego Costa, who would be an asset for almost any team, especially in the early-season form he has been demonstrating for club and country. Gameiro is nothing, however, if not mentally tough.
He battled his way up in the game via three seasons at Lorient, getting his big move to Paris Saint-Germain in 2011 after scoring 22 Ligue 1 goals in his last season at Le Moustoir only for the goalposts to be moved weeks after his arrival in the capital - when Qatar Sports Investment took over the club, rendering him part of the B-list under the new regime, as was the case with goalkeeper Nicolas Douchez, who arrived in the same period. Gameiro started just eight times in the league during his second and final season at the Parc des Princes.
He reignited his career after that at Sevilla, of course, although he had to be patient there too, being used largely as a pinch-hitter from the bench - 15 of 35 La Liga appearances in his first season came from the bench - immediately after his arrival. Given his chance, he scored 16 in 22 starts just in La Liga for Unai Emery’s team last term and also notched eight in seven starts in the victorious Europa League campaign.
Gameiro is perfect, in tandem with Griezmann, for the sort of pressing that Simeone wants given his mobility. We have already seen an increase in his defensive work, with his still-modest 0.9 tackles and 0.7 fouls per match so far this campaign a career high - Griezmann, with 1.8 tackles and 1.7 fouls, is further down that line after establishing himself at the Vicente Calderon.
Deschamps will welcome this industry. After a lot of waiting, Gamiero has seized his chances with both hands, leaving Giroud, the injured Alexandre Lacazette and André-Pierre Gignac all leapfrogged. Finally France may have the killer instinct that they could have done with back in July. They will hope to make up for that in Russia.
Is the Gameiro-Griezmann strike partnership France's best option moving forward? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below
