France national football team Zidane second training camp, Digi Mart USA News: The French national football team began its second gathering under coach Zinedine Zidane on Monday with a public training session, the only one scheduled for the week. Fans at the Pibarot pitch cheered loudly for Kylian Mbappé and Désiré Doué, the most applauded players during the session.
This camp differs sharply from the first. For his initial matches, Zidane had a rare international window of fifteen days and four games.
This time he has only six days together and two matches to manage.
The first match is Thursday in Milan against Italy. The second is against Turkey in Bordeaux on Saturday, a city where Zidane played for Girondins de Bordeaux from 1992 to 1996 and where he married and became a father.
He described the city as a nice place with nice people.
Monday’s session was short, with the twelve outfield players who remained on the pitch after signing autographs. The others were given rest following weekend matches.
Tuesday’s training at Clairefontaine is expected to be the most demanding of the week, before pre-match sessions in Milan at San Siro and in Bordeaux at Stade Atlantique.
Zidane said that although the camp is short, the players will be ready, and that his squad will have many short video sessions. Monday’s work focused on defensive organization, but the main focus of the week will be the opposite side of the ball.
Zidane noted that across the four September matches France had 68 percent possession and a 92 percent pass completion rate, but he was not satisfied with the ratio of chances created.
France needs a point against Italy to secure a quarterfinal place in the UEFA Nations League regardless of other results. The staff must also integrate players who were absent or limited early in the autumn because of injuries, including Konaté, Tchouaméni, Zaïre-Emery, Gusto, Thuram and Mbappé, along with newcomers Kumbedi and Pagis.
Defender Ibrahim Konaté said after the session that the new pressing and defensive approach introduced by Zidane shows how much the team can improve, and that he returns eager to regain a starting place. Maintaining competition for places will be another key issue, since playing time had been shared almost equally in the first four matches.
Midfielder Pablo Pagis of Paris FC said he enjoys playing alongside players of this quality and hopes to express himself and take pleasure in the game.
