The latter's one advantage, which shone through his demeanour inthe Stade de France ahead of the Opening Match against Romania, was that the47-year-old coach of France has been here before. He was captain when Les Bleuswon the World Cup in this same stadium in 1998; and he was captain again whenthey triumphed a few hundred miles to the east at the European finals in 2000.
Been there, done it, got the T-shirts. But the T-shirt this timeis more a tighter fit. The coach prepares his squad, picks the tactics, decideson the players. But once the players cross the white line they are largely ontheir own and he can only watch his work stand or fall by their interpretationof his message.
Didier Deschamps . . . no longer a waiting game
For Deschamps that message, at least, was a positive one. Thispromises to be good news not only for France but for the tournament and forEuropean federation UEFA which needs a month of entertaining football torelegate into the shadows the power-game agendas of some of its directors.
"We are not going to keep the ball to ourselves alot," said Deschamps, discussing his attitude to the trials ahead, notleast a tightly-organised Romanian defence.
Title rivals
"Our strength lies in putting our foot down on theaccelerator rather than wearing the opposition down over a period oftime."
Deschamps was referring, obliquely, to Spain who won theEuropean title in 2008 and 2012 with their tika-taka football which, whilegenerated more admiration than excitement. But Deschamps knows that Spain, askings of Europe, along with Germany, as world champions, are the main dangersto French ambition.
A tournament expansion from 16 to 24 teams has broughtuncertainty over the likely quality of the football and, as the French weatherbegins to improve, so the extra round in the knockout stage will dictate a rolefor fatigue amid what Deschamps readily defined as "fixture congestion."
His priority, however, is that France will still be around toconfront these later challenges. This means extending, into competition, theform which France have shown over two years of friendly matches.
Deschamps said: "We have played 20 matches since the WorldCup in Brazil but they were just friendly games. Now we will experience atournament match again. I think I have a competitive side with some veryexciting attacking potential. But we know we also need to be able to defendwell so throughout our training sessions we have focused on having an effectivedefensive block."
The immediate Opening Match ambition is no secret.
Respect for Romania
Deschamps said: "The aim is to score the opening goal asearly as possible. But we must not think that Romania are an ultra defensiveside. They are also able to come out, press high up the pitch to provokemistakes and when they have the ball they can use it very effectively."
Reaching back to memories of his playing days Deschampsappreciated the stress of the occasion but viewed it in positive terms, saying:"You need butterflies in your stomach before going out for an importantgame because we haven't done anything yet.
"When I picked these players I knew there was a great dealof quality. We've been able to score a lot of goals and cause problems for ouropponents though not to the detriment of anything else. But if you want to gofar in the competition you need great attacking potential."
France would have even more attacking potential were Real Madridcentre-forward Karim Benzema available but he has been banished over thebizarre 'sextape blackmail' case. French federation president Noel Le Graet,who took that decision, is not the only man who needs the attackers present atthe party to live up to the manager's expectations.
Deschamps's fellow Frenchman - with little enough to cheer oflate after their concerns over security, floods and strikes - depend on it.
