The Bleuets meet for the first time of the year this Friday, against Ivory Coast. In Châteauroux, the hopes of the French team will want to improve their performance, having suffered two defeats in the fall, against Austria and South Korea.
Above all, the players will be keen to prove that they have their place for the Olympic Games which will take place at home this summer. A subject that has been on a lot of people’s minds lately, with Thierry Henry being able to add three players older than 23 to his squad. But the 1998 world champion risks getting knots in his brain, he who will have to comply with the demands of clubs to let their players leave or not for the Games, which are not part of the Fifa calendar.
Recently, Real Madrid sent a letter in which it refused to allow its players to participate in the Paris Games. No Ferland Mendy or Eduardo Camavinga for Henry therefore. But above all, probably no Kylian Mbappé either, if the native of Bondy joins Madrid at the end of the season.
Before that, Thierry Henry revealed a first list for the two friendly matches against Ivory Coast and the United States. By expanding the players to the U23s, the coach was able to find Lille goalkeeper Lucas Chevalier and Niçois Khephren Thuram. Not selected at first, Rayan Cherki finally joined the group to compensate for the withdrawals of Georginio Rutter and Joris Chotard.
The friendly match between the French Esperanto team and Côte d’Ivoire can be watched this Friday, March 22 at 6:30 p.m. on the L’Équipe channel.
