Despite the controversy, the French futsal team will play the first World Cup round of 16 in its history, this Friday against Thailand (2:30 p.m.). There has been doubt since Libya and Paraguay file complaints to FIFA for unsportsmanlike conduct by France and Iran (1-4) during the last group match, but the procedure is unlikely to be successful.
Which does not at all bring down Miguel Rodrigo, the Thailand coach, contacted by 20 minutes : “Why am I so angry? Actually, we all are. I spoke with the coach of Brazil, Argentina, everyone is angry. It’s a shame,” he fumes from Uzbekistan, where the World Cup is taking place. “It’s a shameful situation for football because both teams intentionally played to lose the match in order to avoid Morocco or Brazil in the next round, and play against Thailand. It was ridiculous.”
“Why does the goalkeeper let the ball in?”
The images of the match speak for themselves. We see the players of both nations making an incalculable number of illegal passes towards the goalkeeper, leading to indirect free kicks. Indirect free kicks then played in a manner as clumsy as it is incomprehensible, for a score of 0-0 at half-time.
“Nobody wanted to shoot, because nobody wanted to score a goal to finish in 2nd position, in order to have an easy score. We should also ask the goalkeeper why he let the ball go in? It was ridiculous, a shame. I hope the authorities will understand what happened because everyone is ashamed,” he added to 20 MinutesMiguel Rodrigo. At the start of the second half, we see the substitute goalkeeper for the French team squeeze his legs before letting an easy shot go to his right and cross the goal line.
Preparing for the rest of the competition
In its report, the French Football Federation also half-heartedly acknowledges the lesser involvement of its team for this match than during the first two matches won against Guatemala (6-3) and then Venezuela (7-3). “Already assured of their qualification for the round of 16, the two teams clearly did not have a great desire to meet Morocco in the round of 16, nor to appear in the lower part of the final table,” writes the Federation.
The coach of the Blues, Raphaël Reynaud, had nevertheless scolded his group at half-time, asking them to finally wake up. Before acknowledging, after the defeat, that the level of his team was not worthy of such a competition. “I understand the surprise and the frustration,” he continued on the FFF website. It’s a match to forget. A very big underperformance. We have the image of a dynamic team but the players were afraid of losing the benefit of the work accomplished. Possible injuries, cards, all that also comes into play. I assume the strategy of wanting to also prepare well for what comes next. We had a game plan but our opponent absolutely did not want to play and that bothered us. We wanted to wait for them with a strategy to counter them. It’s a shame for futsal but we will do everything to erase that,” he preferred to put the blame on the preparation.
“We didn’t like the content”
Despite the filing of the complaint by Libya and Paraguay, the French Football Federation has remained on the same line of defense: “The group sentence is over, the coach and the captain spoke after the match, it was not the match of the century, we did not like the content”. While congratulating themselves on “a historic first participation for the round of 16 of a very exciting World Cup”, which necessarily makes them “happy”.
Internally, it is mainly believed that the exploits achieved during the first two matches to seek a historic qualification allowed them to play relaxed in this third match, and that this controversy will not affect the preparation for the match against Thailand on Friday. Dropping a group match to be in a better table is not new, we have already seen it in basketball or handball, even if the images are as glaring as they are distressing this time.
Remote-controlled controversy?
“This had already happened at the World Cup in Brazil between Paraguay and Italy, where everyone saw what happened for both to qualify for the next phase, and now France is doing the same to avoid tougher rivals, points out on his social networks the former Portugal star, Ricardinho. I don’t know until when the athletes will accept these things and when we will create a concept so that there are more things like this in the last round.”
Among the Blues, there are also questions about the origin of the controversy, largely fueled by the Spanish coach of the future opponent of the Blues. “It’s a very delicate situation, don’t think that I’m afraid of facing France, or Iran. The French were the first to let the ball go into their goal, yet they are a big federation, with a good reputation, values. And all that falls apart. I’m not condemning them, they condemned themselves with this shameful situation,” Miguel Rodrigo says. This first round of 16 in the history of the Blues in the World Cup against Thailand promises to be good.