Injuries and an infamous slur: France’s most memorable World Cup warm-ups | OneFootball

With the World Cup starting on 11 June, Didier Deschamps’ France play Côte d’Ivoire in Nantes and Northern Ireland in Lille, then fly on 9 June before opening against Senegal on 16 June at 21.00. L’Équipe notes that past warm-ups have yielded mixed omens.

In 2006 against China, Djibril Cissé suffered a double leg fracture after a tackle by Zheng Zhi, and Zinédine Zidane missed his only France penalty before later converting versus Portugal and Italy as France reached the final.

In 2002 at Suwon, a tired Zidane injured his left thigh in a 3-2 win over South Korea soon after his Champions League volley, and France went out in the group. In 1998 in Helsinki, David Trezeguet sealed a 1-0 win over Finland as Jean-Michel Larqué called Christophe Dugarry an assassin, a week before substitute Dugarry, wearing 21, scored and France became champions.

In 1986 at Tlaxcala, France beat Guatemala 8-1 as Henri Michel split the friendly into three thirds in protest, and they later finished third. In 1978, France beat Tunisia 2-0 amid boycott slogans, Michel Platini came on to score, yet the finals ended at the first stage.

In 1966, after low-key games in Scotland, France thrashed Selkirk 11-2 in three thirds, Lucien Muller refused to play, and they exited in the group. In 1958 without Raymond Kopa, Just Fontaine scored four in a 12-0 win over Närke and France finished third, the striker on his way to a record 13 goals.

Source: L'Équipe