Coach of the U20 tricolors, Bernard Diomède deplored the departure of Saïmon Bouabré, recalled by his club. But his words did not please everyone.
The France U20 team faces Morocco this Wednesday evening (10 p.m.), as part of the World Cup semi-finals. To reach the last four, Bernard Diomède’s men were able to count on Saïmon Bouabré’s double in the previous round against Norway (1-2). But the player was recalled by his club Neom. Enough to frustrate the coach whose words did not necessarily please everyone.
In his remarks, the 1998 world champion explained that his group lost a lot with the departure of Bouabré and that the rest of the competition would perhaps not be the same without him. Enough to make Eric Rabesandratana react on the set of the L’Équipe channel this Tuesday. “I’m not a fan, because you have your players who are supposed to project themselves onto the rest (from the World Cup). »
And the consultant continued. “So, obviously the player is important and you have the right to say that he is important, that’s normal, but you’re not saying that we won’t be the same team without him. » The former defender, who notably played for Paris Saint-Germain, in fact placed himself from the point of view of the other players of the France team who could have felt a little devalued by such an exit.
Bernard Diomède, comments considered clumsy
If for him “it will not pose a problem in reality”he still insisted by qualifying
“clumsy” the words of Bernard Diomède. Whatever happens, the French U20 team will have a lot to do for its semi-final against Morocco which came first in its group ahead of Mexico, Spain and Brazil.
The young Moroccans certainly lost their last group match against the Mexicans (1-0), but they then got the better of South Korea in the round of 16 (2-1) and the United States in the quarters (1-3). France and Morocco faced each other twice in a friendly in October 2024 and France won each time with clear scores (4-3 and 5-4).
