Cyrille de la Morinerie (special correspondent in Doha), edited by Romain Rouillard 8:14 p.m., November 24, 2022, modified at 8:14 p.m., November 24, 2022
The France team faces Denmark on Saturday for its second match at the 2022 World Cup. After a day spent on the training grounds to perfect automation, the Blues should meet around a game of cards as they have. habit to occupy their free time.
In an atmosphere typical of a Gulf country with the song of the muezzin perceptible in the distance, the players of the France team continued this Thursday their preparation for the match against Denmark on Saturday (5 p.m.), their second meeting in this World Cup in Qatar.
With a smile on their lips, the Blues followed a warm-up then small games with the ball, under the gaze of Didier Deschamps and his deputy Guy Stéphan, supported by his son Julien, in the stands.
Days "a little long from time to time"
But once training is over, killing time isn't always easy.
To keep busy, the players meet every evening and compete on a famous card game, as Matteo Guendouzi confided in a press conference.
"It's true that the days can be a little long from time to time, but there is a great group, we all get along very well together. We play a lot of cards, especially Uno. We also play PlayStation, we watch Netflix series but playing cards after dinner is our favorite activity."
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On the pitch, Olivier Giroud and Antoine Griezmann quickly joined the locker room during the last training session and Kingsley Coman had to leave the session due to muscle discomfort.
Raphaël Varane, replacing during the inaugural success against Australia (4-1) was very present.
The substitutes made crosses in front of goal.
Before facing Saturday the most formidable opponent of the group, the Blues show their confidence.