FFF: Enter the Arena | French Football

With humility and ambition, the Blues begin Euro 2026 Futsal against Croatia, this Wednesday January 21 in Riga, the Latvian capital (4 p.m., live on the L’Équipe Channel).

THE CONTEXT

Since fall 2024, they’ve just been waiting for this. Semi-finalists for their first participation in a World Cup, the Blues will finally return to the final phase of a major tournament, and all that goes with it. This is what drives this group of formidable competitors, their teeth sharpened by a 2024 World Cup where no one expected them and where they almost ended up frustrated. “We are impatient and excited at the idea of ​​starting the Euro, admits Souheil Mouhoudine, the captain. Usually, we are rather outsiders. There, we will rather be in the light, recognized by all. It’s a new status to assume. With the staff and the group, we will have to anticipate, keep a cool head, take the matches one after the other without burning our wings. »

This ambition does not prevent humility, less than twenty-four hours before the start of the second European Championship in the history of the French Futsal Team. To secure her place in the quarter-finals, she will have to finish in one of the first two places in Group A made up of Croatia, her first opponent this Wednesday January 21 (at 4:00 p.m., on The Team Channel), Latvia, one of the three host countries – with Lithuania and Slovenia -, and Georgia.

THE MATCH

Winner of the Metz International Tournament in December, stronger than Hungary (5-2) and held in check by Belgium (5-5) in January, in friendly matches, France carried out a coherent preparation. For Raphaël Reynaud, the coach, it will still be necessary to raise the slider to succeed in entering the Euro against Croatia: “We need to be much stronger defensively. This has been our strong point, which makes us a sometimes unbeatable team. This is also what allowed us to earn this nickname. We have talent, unpredictability, we are a team capable of playing anyone but to do that, we have to be much more solid defensively. »

At Arena Riga, the Blues will be able to count on around a hundred supporters, some of whom have already given them strength during a short walk through the whitewashed streets of the Latvian capital. “We hope for maximum support in addition to our familieswishes the French captain. Our goal is also to make people want to love this sport. We are its showcase so we are keen to attract as many French people as possible. »

The Arena Riga will host the first two matches of the Blues (photo Ludovic BRUNEAU / FFF).

THE OPPONENT

Semi-finalist in 2012, Croatia will play its seventh final phase of a European Championship. Accustomed to this type of meeting, the 14th nation in the FIFA rankings sets out on the road to the Blues for the tenth time. “He is a historic adversarynotes Raphaël Reynaud, who is obviously thinking of the play-off for Euro 2018 that Pierre Jacky’s players won (1 -1 on the first leg; 4 -5 on the return) to qualify. It is a team that has evolved since the retirement of Dario Marinović, its attacking leader. She rebuilt herself on a slightly different basis from what she used to do, by being much more ambitious in her game. She is an opponent that we must respect and fear in order to be at 200%. »

Souheil Mouhoudine, for his part, is wary of an athletic formation, composed “beautiful babies. We faced her during the qualification for the last World Cup and we deprived her of this competition. They will inevitably be revengeful. We must not fall into this trap. »