France in crisis !

The 2022 Qatar World Cup is getting closer and closer, but the defending champion French national team is facing internal and external troubles. Recently, the French media GFFN counted the negative information that the French team is currently encountering.

1. Pogba was revealed to have hired a wizard to cast a spell on Mbappe

Earlier, Pogba’s second brother Matthias released a video on social media to reveal Pogba’s dark history. He said in the video that Pogba had spent a lot of money to hire wizards to fight against his national team teammate Mba Pesch curse. However, Pogba has denied this.

2. Pogba was blackmailed by his brother

After Pogba’s second brother Matthias released a video on social media, Pogba responded that in March this year, he was blackmailed by a masked man at a gun, and one of the masterminds was his pro Brother Matthias. In addition, they also followed him from Manchester to Turin, trying to blackmail him again, and Pogba has called the police. At present, Matthias and four other people have been arrested by French police.

3. French Football Federation president faces allegations of sexual harassment, underage sexual violence

According to French media “Sofoot”, French Football Federation President Le Graet has sent inappropriate messages to some young female employees, and he may leave in January next year.

4. Mbappe and the French Football Association have disagreements over portrait rights

Recently, French striker Mbappe said that he refused to attend the relevant activities of the French national team because of the issue of image rights. In March of this year, the two sides had a disagreement over the issue of portrait rights, when Mbappe did not attend related business events. At present, the French Football Association has officially issued a document stating that it will be committed to reaching a new consensus on the portrait rights of players to ensure the maximization of the interests of all parties.

5. The French team suffered a lot of injuries

At present, core players such as French striker Benzema, midfielder Pogba and Kante are all in the injury period, and Pogba will likely miss the Qatar World Cup because of surgery.

In fact, it is not uncommon for the French team to have a scandal before the competition. There have been infighting within the team in many previous competitions.

1. Euro 2004

Before the start of the Euro 2004, Santini, who was then the coach of the French team, announced that he would coach Tottenham, which eventually led to the defending champion being eliminated by Greece in the quarter-finals, fulfilling the latter’s “Greek mythology”. After being eliminated from the competition, Santini pointed the finger at the French Football Association, claiming that they did not handle their contracts well that led to such a situation, and bluntly stated that the French Football Association had not given him enough trust. It is worth mentioning that before the 2018 World Cup, the La Liga giants officially announced that the Spanish national team coach Lopetegui will coach the team, which directly led to the Matador changing coaches and eventually regretted being eliminated in the 1/8 finals.

2. Euro 2008

In the 2008 European Cup, the French team failed to qualify for the group stage. It is said that the then coach Domenech was a big fan of astrology. The team’s striker Trezeguet missed a penalty in the 2006 World Cup final, causing the Gallic Rooster to miss the cup. Domenech concluded after astrology that it should be Deprecated Trezeguet.

In addition, before the European Cup, the national team rookie Nasri was promoted and reused, but he had conflicts with team veterans such as Henry. In the end, the French team was humiliated with 1 draw and 2 losses in the group stage.

3. 2010 World Cup

Before the start of the World Cup in South Africa, the French national team’s warm-up results were very poor, and there were many contradictions in the team.

In the World Cup group stage, the French team lost to Mexico, and then the content of the team’s locker room was leaked. Coach Domenech and Anelka clashed at halftime. Anelka abused Domenech and was arrested by France Football Association dismissed. However, other members of the French team wanted to “rescue” Anelka, and directly announced the strike and sent a letter to the French Football Association to express their protest. After the relationship between the French Football Federation and the players broke down, Domenech was angry and wanted to pack up and leave South Africa, but he was eventually dissuaded by the players and stayed.

However, after losing to South Africa in the final round of the group stage and failing to qualify, the contradiction between the French team further escalated. Many well-known players said they would fully disclose the truth of the infighting during the World Cup. Subsequently, the French side sent a team to South Africa for PR, and the matter was suppressed. In the end, the infighting ended with Domenech’s dismissal. However, the incident changed the careers of many players in the national team.

4. Euro 2012

In the 2012 European Cup, Blanco led the team, but infighting appeared again in the French team. Some players accused the coach of the substitution adjustment, and conflicts broke out between the players. In the end, the team was eliminated by Spain in the quarter-finals. After the European Cup, Blanco left the French national team.

5. Benzema’s “Video Door”

In 2015, Benzema was expelled from the national team after he was found to be an accessory to blackmailing his teammates with videotape. Since then, Benzema has not been called up by the French team for a long time, which also indirectly led to the Gallic Rooster being beaten by Portugal in overtime in the Euro 2016 final and losing the championship trophy at home.

6. Euro 2020

In the summer of 2021, the 2020 European Cup was postponed due to the epidemic, and the World Cup champion France was eliminated by Switzerland in the round of 16. In fact, before the start of the European Cup, contradictions broke out in the French team. Giroud, who scored twice, said in an interview after France’s 3-0 win over Bulgaria in the warm-up match that he was unhappy that some players were not giving him enough passes. Later, some media said that Giroud’s remarks were an attack on Mbappe, who was angry and responded to Giroud’s accusations at a press conference.

In the 1/8 finals of the 2020 European Cup, the French team once led 3-1, but at the last moment of the game they were chased by Switzerland for two consecutive goals. The game was dragged into overtime. In the end, Mbappe missed the penalty kick in the penalty shootout. Switzerland knocked out France to advance to the quarter-finals. After the game, French media broke the news that Rabiot’s mother, Pogba’s family and Mbappe’s family clashed in the stands, because Rabiot’s mother believed that Pogba’s mistake caused Switzerland to equalize. After the score, Mbappe finally missed the penalty kick in the penalty shootout, and the French team lost to the Swiss team.

The 2022 Qatar World Cup will kick off in November, what will the defending champion France do? It is worth mentioning that the previous defending champions have encountered the curse of “group out”. In the 2018 World Cup in Russia, the defending champion Germany lost to South Korea 0-2 in the final round of the group stage, and finally missed the group stage.