Didier Deschamps, coach of the French national team, revealed that the appointment of an Argentine referee for the match against Morocco does not worry him, and stressed that he is only focusing on achieving the best possible result from the match.
The French national team is preparing to face Morocco tomorrow, Thursday, in the quarter-final round of the 2026 World Cup currently taking place in the United States of America, Canada, and Mexico.
Deschamps said in the press conference: "I do not feel any concern about the presence of any influences, others may raise these questions, but for me there are appointments and we cannot change them".
He continued, "I trust the referees, and I hope that Mr. Teo and his crew will deliver a good match as François Letexier and his crew did in another match".
He added, "Of course there will be debatable decisions, but that always depends on the side looking at them; for me, my opponent is Morocco, not the referee, and his role is to apply the laws of the game with the greatest possible fairness".
Regarding Aurélien Tchouaméni's condition, he said: "Tchouaméni is feeling much better; he left the national team headquarters early to attend the conference, and I will review his situation with the medical staff, but the indicators are positive, and he may participate tomorrow according to what the final training sessions determine, while the rest of the players are all ready for the match".
Regarding the Moroccan national team, he said: "Morocco changed its coach a short time before the start of the tournament, but it has achieved great development in its level; it is a strong team, whether when we faced it in the semi-finals or during its path to the final of the Africa Cup of Nations, and it has players with outstanding individual level playing in the biggest European clubs".
He continued, "At the collective level, it is an organized team whose players know each other well, and it has made some adjustments to its style of play; changing the coach before a major tournament is not an easy matter, but they adapted quickly to the new coach".
He concluded, "Our goal is to reach the highest possible efficiency; in football, you may create six chances, but you only score one or two goals from them, and the matter depends on the quality of exploiting the available opportunities".
Regarding Kylian Mbappé's condition, he said: "Mbappé is in good shape, and I do not want to go back to the past or talk about what happened; he is a very strong player mentally, and all his focus now is on tomorrow's match, which will be a difficult confrontation".
Regarding Michael Olise's participation, he said: "Nothing has changed regarding the yellow card, and we received a notification from FIFA this morning".
He concluded his statements: "The team delivered an outstanding physical performance, and we made some adjustments to the training program; I have no problem if some players miss one or two training sessions as long as they return to participate afterward, and the data confirms that we are on the right path".
The French national team qualified for the quarter-finals after overcoming the obstacle of the Paraguay national team with a goal to nothing, while Morocco achieved a big victory against Canada with three goals to nothing.
