Same position, same profile, same course ... Ferland Mendy is the "double" Benjamin, he replaces the Blues. Their trainer in Le Havre tells a few hours of likely tenure tonight with the team from France to face Uruguay (21 h).
Ferland Mendy could know his first tenure with the A of the French team tonight (21 pm) against Uruguay. The Lyonnais replaces another Mendy, Benjamin injured on one knee.
The story
Le Havre, Les Bleus ... Ferland and Benjamin Mendy are unrelated twins who meet without ever meeting each other.
Born in Yvelines 23 years ago, the first could celebrate his first selection tomorrow at the Stade de France. The second, born in Essonne a year earlier, is already world champion, but in the grip of recurring problems at the knees: Lyonnais Ferland replaces Benjamin Mancunien, as he had replaced five years ago in Le Havre AC, where these two attackers reconverted defenders were formed.
When asked about the eldest, the younger rejects the comparison with an assurance that the two Senegalese players also share. "They have a lot in common, confirms Johann Louvel , currently in charge of Moroccan U19 Mohamed VI Academy of Casablanca, who participated in the formation of the two Mendy in the Norman structure. They are two left-handers in the same position, modern side profiles on the offensive, with characteristics identical in athletic terms, in terms of power. With the same facilities in the game too, who could turn against them ... "
Benjamin, one of Istra's "ambiancers" during the World Cup, is more extroverted than Ferland. But a form of carelessness, a carelessness sometimes guilty, brings them closer again. "With Benjamin, you had to work on the rigor of the defense," said Louvel , while Ferland was tactically dispersing: he was going in the axis, left left, back inside ... It had to channel. "
Miraculously soccer, and strong head
Ferland exploded in Lyon, which he joined in 2017, as Benjamin had done with OM. Both Mendy also cultivate some differences. "Benjamin had been in Le Havre since the age of 13, when we got Ferland back when he was 17, when he signed a trainee-pro. " In a situation of failure after a serious hip injury that had nearly deprived him of football for life, Ferland Mendy was ejected from the PSG training center in 2012. He has never known the young selections, at the opposite of his elder.
If Benjamin remained close to his training club, Ferland quickly turned the page, after having attracted several times the wrath of the Norman people for an attitude considered haughty and several non-sporting gaps.
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In 2015, he was shot to sign his first pro contract. In 2016, Le Havre excluded him from the pre-season camp after the hotel's fire alarm was triggered by the untimely use of chicha with a teammate ... "Ferland had a hard time, but Benjamin so we did a few, answers Johann Louvel. We also have to see how boys are managed when he goes into the first team. Was there the same consideration for Ferland as for Benjamin? If there is not the necessary guidance and confidence, both parties can turn. "
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Like Benjamin, Ferland will go high, if the head follows. "He can be more rigorous than Benjamin but must win in consistency. It was already the case in Le Havre, where he could relax 10-15 minutes in a game, and when playing defender it can be very expensive. If he passes this cap on the mental plane ... "
In the meantime, two similar left-backs trained at the HAC have garnished consecutively the ranks of the France team. "Each center develops certain profiles according to its criteria of recruitment, and like Kévin Anin or Paul Pogba, they are often powerful players who came out of Le Havre, with a real specificity to the position. "
The meeting between France and Uruguay is to follow live on our site from 21 h.