PARIS: French football fans were kept guessing on Monday whether they would get a chance to meet the national team on its return from Qatar where they lost to Argentina in a nail-biting World Cup final.
Sports Minister Amelie Oudea-Castera said early Monday that the team planned to go to the Place de la Concorde in the French capital after their plane touches down at Charles de Gaulle Airport.
“They want to go to thank their supporters, to spend some time on Place de la Concorde which they have chosen in theory with the French Football Federation,” she told France Inter radio.
But within hours, the chief of France’s football federation FFF contradicted the minister, saying the players would head home straight from the airport.
“When you don’t win you don’t feel like wandering down the Champs Elysees or anywhere else,” Noel
Le Graet told the BFMTV broadcaster, in reference to the glamorous avenue running from Concorde to the Arc de Triomphe.
“They have been away for more than a month and they did a good job. They want to go home as quickly as possible,” he said.
But that statement was, in turn, thrown into doubt shortly afterwards when BFMTV, citing sources in the national team’s communication team, said the team would show up after all.
French commentators heaped praise on the defeated side, while highlighting the crucial role of Argentinian captain Lionel Messi.
Published in Dawn, December 20th, 2022