DOHA — A cold virus is running through the France squad ahead of the World Cup final against Argentina on Sunday, affecting at least three players in the squad.
Coach Didier Deschamps said two players with symptoms, defender Dayot Upamecano and midfielder Adrien Rabiot, were isolated earlier this week and didn’t play in France’s 2-0 semi-final win over Morocco.
Rabiot wasn’t in the lineup in Wednesday’s match at Al Bayt stadium. Upamecano was in the lineup as a substitute but didn’t play. Deschamps said Upamecano was recovering from “three difficult days” since playing in the quarterfinals against England on Saturday.
“However, we have four days until the next game, so he should be available for Sunday,” the coach said, adding back-up winger Kingsley Coman had also felt feverish.
He insisted he expects all his players to be healthy for the final against Argentina.
“It’s ‘flu season now, and in that sense, we have to be careful,” he said according to AP. “And also, the players have put in a huge shift and their immune system might be a little run down.”
France has been training outdoors in Qatar and Deschamps noted the “use of air conditioners may also affect” how the virus is circulating, echoing comments earlier in the tournament from the Brazil camp.
Seven of the eight World Cup stadiums cool the air at field level while interiors of buildings and transport in Qatar are routinely air-conditioned.
Switzerland also had an outbreak of heavy colds and had two starters missing for a decisive group-stage game against Serbia.
The daytime heat has settled at around 25-27 Celsius (77-81 Fahrenheit) for the final week of the month-long tournament which started with temperatures in the low-30s (high 80s).
The first World Cup to be played in November and December was moved from the usual scheduling in June and July when temperatures in Qatar routinely rise above 40 C (104 F)
“The temperatures have dropped in the last few days, and you always need to be careful,” Deschamps said. “Regarding the virus, we’re not worried, really.”
Poland’s Marciniak to referee final
Poland’s Szymon Marciniak will referee Sunday’s World Cup final between Argentina and France, the Polish FA said.
The 41-year-old, who will be the first Pole to referee the final, officiated his first World Cup match in 2018 in Russia. He will be joined by assistants Pawel Sokolnicki and Tomasz Listkiewicz.
Qatari Abdulrahman Al Jassim was appointed to referee the third-place match between Croatia and Morocco at the Khalifa International Stadium on Saturday.
He will be assisted by compatriots Taleb Al Marri and Saoud Ahmed Almaqaleh.
Elsewhere, When France walks on the field Sunday for the tournament final against Argentina and Lionel Messi, soccer lore is waiting to be written for the team.
Les Bleus could be the first winner of back-to-back titles for 60 years since Brazil did it 1958 and 1962.
The 23-year-old Mbappe would become the youngest player with two World Cup wins since Pele accomplished that feat at age 21.
Deschamps would be the first man to coach two world champion teams since Vittorio Pozzo did it with Italy in 1934 and 1938.
“As for me, I’m not the most important person. It’s the French team,” said Deschamps, who is worthy of his own chapter in World Cup history.
He lifted the trophy in Paris as the team’s captain when France first won the World Cup in 1998. He won it as coach in 2018, and now he is on the brink of getting a third.
“Obviously, I’m proud. I know, everyone knows, we have the chance to win another title,” Deschamps said Thursday after beating Morocco in the semifinals.
France is playing in a fourth final in a span of seven tournaments _ including the 2006 final lost to Italy in a penalty shootout after Zinedine Zidane was sent off. It’s a dynastic era not seen since Brazil’s two decades at the top through 1970.
