The French national team suffered a surprising 2-1 loss to Ivory Coast in Nantes, during a friendly match, despite the participation of its main stars led by Kylian Mbappe, one week before the start of the 2026 World Cup finals in North America.
Published on: 04/06/2026 - 23:51 Last updated: 05/06/2026 - 07:34
The French national team, one of the most prominent candidates to win the 2026 World Cup, suffered a surprising 2-1 friendly loss against Ivory Coast on Thursday in the city of Nantes, just one week before the start of the finals in North America.
The first goal in the match was scored in favor of France by Manchester City's English player Rayyan Cherki at the beginning of the second half (46), but the Ivorian team later succeeded in turning the tables during the second part of the match.
The equalizer for Ivory Coast was scored in the 53rd minute by Gila Doue, then Amad Diallo, the English Manchester United winger, scored the winning goal in the 84th minute.
Read also: Algeria defeats the Netherlands in a friendly manner... and Koeman describes the loss as a “wake-up call” before the World Cup
The French coach relied on most of the key elements in this confrontation, led by Real Madrid's Spanish star Kylian Mbappe, and Bayern Munich's German winger Michael Oliseh.
The French national team is scheduled to play a second friendly match against Northern Ireland on the eighth of this month, before heading to the United States to participate in the World Cup.
The French team is in Group Nine, along with Senegal, Iraq and Norway, while Ivory Coast is competing in the World Cup matches in Group Five with Germany, Ecuador and Curacao.
France 24/AFP
Keywords related to the article
The content you want to browse is no longer in service or is currently unavailable.
