Why Kante is still crucial for France – Giroud

When we were both back at Chelsea after we had won the World Cup together with France in 2018, N’Golo Kante said to me, “Oli, I think I am going to retire from the national team.”

I told him, ‘no NG, look, you are top of the world. I can understand why you are saying this, but you need to carry on. You are too young to stop.’

That was eight years ago, and NG – which is what all his friends and team-mates call him – is still going for France, and is still a crucial player for Les Bleus.

He is 35 now, but as I say whenever I am asked about him being in in the France squad, NG is NG. You might have not seen him in the Premier League for a few years because he has been playing in Saudi Arabia and, since February for Fenerbahce in Turkey, but he has not changed.

Back in the day, if you were playing outside the top leagues in Europe, it might have meant Didier Deschamps would not pick you for France.

For example, Andre-Pierre Gignac was already in Mexico when he played in the Euro 2016 final, but Deschamps told him that if he stayed in a championship like that, and not at the best level in Europe, then he would not have the chance to come back into the national team.

Deschamps has evolved in his thinking since then, because he knows he needs to adapt, and a lot of those leagues are stronger now.

But he also used to still call up N’Golo when he was in Saudi Arabia because he knows that, as long as he is delivering his game, you can always count on him to bring what he does best.

I actually expect Deschamps will put N’Golo on the bench at first, and pick Aurelien Tchouameni and Adrien Rabiot together in France’s midfield.

They started in the team that played against Northern Ireland last week, and I think that team is going to start the tournament against Senegal on Tuesday.

But you cannot play a whole World Cup with just two midfielders, especially because France will probably have four such attacking players in front of them in Michael Olise, Ousmane Dembele, Desire Doue and Kylian Mbappe.

You need balance between attack and defence, and N’Golo always brings that to every team he plays in.

Even if Deschamps does not play him from the start, he will be happy and he will help in every game anyway. In some of them we will really need him.

When I played with him, for club or country, I used to say we played with 12 men because he can do two jobs – and he has not changed there. I was always glad when he played alongside me, for the same reasons I am glad he is in the squad again now.

His energy is incredible, and his mentality is contagious. When you see him running everywhere, it gives you some strength to do the same, no matter how tired your legs are.

N’Golo will be massively important, especially if we need to hold a lead or defend a result, like we did for the whole competition at the 2018 World Cup, when we were only behind for nine minutes – in the last 16 against Argentina – out of the total of 630 minutes we played across seven games.

We had a strong balance then, with Paul Pogba and N’Golo at the base of our midfield. Blaise Matuidi would drop back too, along with Antoine Griezmann and myself, when we needed to.

I especially remember that happening in the semi-final against Belgium, when we went ahead at the start of the second half. They had a really talented team and we had to just defend.

This time, if France at some point play against a strong team and Deschamps adopts a more defensive position, or if we need to keep the result when we are ahead, then I am sure N’Golo will play his part.

I would also not be surprised if, in the later stages of this competition, he is starting games for us.

There is another reason Deschamps has selected N’Golo. In any squad, he is like the mascot, you know? Everyone loves him, because he is such a nice guy.

He is quiet, and can be a bit timid – you could even say he is shy – but that is not a criticism because N’Golo brings the sunshine when he is smiling – and he is always smiling.

Harmony is important for any camp and N’Golo and I have travelled together a lot. I know he is someone who is very good to have around.

He is not someone who will suggest we all go to a pub for some beers together. That is not his way – he doesn’t drink and he is quite reserved.

In France we would call him a ‘casanier’, or someone who prefers to stay at home and chill, on his Playstation or by playing chess on his phone – he really loves chess.

There was a time when N’Golo and I were together a lot on a coach or on a plane for Chelsea and France and we would play a lot. Along with American Christian Pulisic, who I wrote about in my last column, we had a kind of Chelsea Chess Club together.

I would say N’Golo and and I were quite level in our ability at first, but it is also true there was a point where he had more wins than me.

He was a bit better than me at the end, so I decided to propose a different game – Scrabble. I killed him at that, until he just didn’t want to play me any more. It was very funny. He is so nice but people need to know that he hates losing – like me, he is very competitive!

He will influence the younger players in the France squad in lots of ways, because he is so humble, and always happy.

It’s going to be important to have him around, for his personality as well as his experience – he is now the oldest player, instead of me.

And for the kids around him, he will have the same effect he had on me during games. If they see how much he runs on the pitch, then what do you think they are going to do?

They will run too – they will follow him, like we all did back in the day.

Like I said before, balance was so important to our success in Russia. I described our France team then as ‘complete’ because we had flair but also we were solid.

Is this France team the same? We will have to wait to find out.

All the components are there but will it all come together on the pitch? They have got everything they need, in defence, midfield and attack, but now they just need to write their story, their history.

We have done our part, in 2018. Now they need to do theirs.

It is a new generation and they are so talented – but with that comes so much expectation, and pressure too. And in football, anything can happen.

At the 2002 World Cup, we arrived as the holders and the European champions. We had an amazing team but our tournament was a mess and we did not make the knockout stage.

The first game is always very important. It does not matter that much how you play – in 2018 we needed a lucky goal to beat Australia – but the important thing was that we won.

This time we begin against the same team we lost to at the start of that 2002 World Cup, Senegal.

We know them well and we know we will have to start strongly to beat them on Tuesday. Next is Iraq, and we should win that, but we will need to have six points before we play Norway, who are a dangerous underdog for me, so there is not too much pressure on us then.

It is a tricky group and while one win is probably enough for us to get through in third place if we needed it, come on – we all know France needs to do much more than that.

We need to finish top, to set the pace, make a statement and find the level we will need later on. Our journey starts now, and I can’t wait.

Olivier Giroud was speaking to BBC Sport’s Chris Bevan