Nantes, France – Didier Deschamps, the French national team coach, considered the friendly defeat against Ivory Coast an early warning for “Les Bleus,” just days before the start of the 2026 World Cup.
The French national team lost 2-1 to Ivory Coast in a friendly match that was part of their final preparations for the World Cup.
Deschamps said during the press conference following the match: “I didn’t consider the French national team to be a perfect team, and I won’t describe it as a bad team now, but if we needed a wake-up call before the World Cup, we’ve already got it”.
He added: “We had a good first half and controlled the game, but things became more complicated in the second half. We have to expect similar encounters when we meet Senegal in our opening match of the World Cup”.
The French coach explained that the nature of the friendly match and the large number of substitutions affected the team’s performance. He said, “I made ten changes during the match, and my aim was to give all the players a chance to participate. I’m not worried about this result, and I wouldn’t have overreacted if we had won”.
The match marked the end of a remarkable run for the French national team, which had not suffered a defeat in friendly matches during the months of May and June before major tournaments since 2010. At that time, the team fell to China by a single goal before the start of the World Cup in South Africa.
Kylian Mbappe’s scoring streak for the national team also came to an end, after he failed to score for the first time in a match in which he started since facing Croatia in March 2025. This ends a streak of seven consecutive matches in which he scored.
France took the lead through Rayan Cherki just before halftime, capitalizing on a pass from Ibrahima Konaté. Ivory Coast then equalized early in the second half through Guila Doué, assisted by Nicolas Pépé.
In the 84th minute, Amad Diallo scored the winning goal for Ivory Coast after a decisive pass from Joël Doué, leading his country to a historic victory over France.
Ivory Coast became the fifth African team to achieve victory over France, after Senegal, Nigeria, South Africa and Tunisia.
The French national team is preparing to compete in Group 9 of the 2026 World Cup, alongside the national teams of Senegal, Norway and Iraq.
