This Thursday evening, Didier Deschamps was unable to field his typical team against Ivory Coast. The national coach was still able to put together an attack that looked very good: Kylian Mbappé, Rayan Cherki, Michael Olise and Marcus Thuram. And on the bench, DD had several stars from Paris Saint-Germain preserved (Ousmane Dembélé, Désiré Doué, Bradley Barcola). Suffice it to say that the offensive sector does not give rise to too many concerns, even if it did not delight the Beaujoire public, apart from Cherki, during the defeat of the Blues (1-2).
On the other hand, at the time of watching for the slightest negative signal before flying to the United States and competing in the World Cup, the Blues will have to reassure in defense. On June 1, we revealed to you exclusively that the pillar of the central axis with Dayot Upamecano, William Saliba, was hit in the back. The French staff then affirmed that the Gunner remained on the trip, but Saliba was logically preserved against the Ivorians. An opportunity for Ibrahima Konaté to show that he was ready to take over.
Konaté, the difficult season continues
Unfortunately for him, he remained in the momentum of his very complicated 2025/2026 season, marked by the deaths of his teammate Diogo Jota and his father. In the 53rd minute, while Maxence Lacroix was sucked in by Elye Wahi, Konaté forgot to slide and slipped, leaving Guéla Doué to go alone on goal for the Ivorian equalizer. He and Lacroix rarely displayed a calm face. They may have the opportunity to make up for it against Northern Ireland next Monday in Lille, but Deschamps must pray more than ever that Saliba recovers from his back problems.
Besides the central players, the side players weren’t really celebrating either. Starting with Jules Koundé. Our editorial staff gave it a 3/10. “His match got off to a bad start with a header, simple to perform, sent down the axis directly at an opponent. He was in technical difficulty and returned several balls to the opponent on restarts. He clearly lacked serenity, even in duels. Worrying 12 days before the first match against Senegal.” And his replacement, Malo Gusto, did not do better since he was beaten by Diallo on Doué’s cross which led to the second Ivorian goal. Same on the left side with Lucas Digne, coming in instead of Theo Hernandez and taken by the patrol on the two opposing goals. The main thing will be to respond on June 16, but we will have to pull ourselves together quickly.
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– UPDATE
