Thierry Henry’s puzzle to form the French Olympic football team

The coach of the France Espoirs team is having all the trouble in the world to train his team for the Olympic event this summer. The draw for the competition takes place this Wednesday.

He may turn the problem around in every direction, but putting together his list of 18 players for Paris 2024 is like putting circles into squares. While the French football teams will know on Wednesday March 20 (draw at 8 p.m.) their opponents in the pools for the Olympic tournament (July 26-August 11), the Blues coach Thierry Henry, navigates by sight on the players he can be included in its selection.

The French men’s Olympic team must be composed of players aged under 23, born after January 1, 2001. Three players born before this date can be included in each squad composed of 18 players. The former Blues striker dreamed, like some of the supporters, of seeing Kylian Mbappé, Antoine Griezmann or even Olivier Giroud don the Blues jersey during the period. But the constraints are numerous: as this tournament is not included in the FIFA (the international football federation) calendar, the clubs have no obligation to release their players.

“One thing is certain, it is that we are not sure of a lot of things”

Recently Real Madrid, the first candidate to attract Kylian Mbappé – leaving Paris Saint-Germain – announced that it refused to let its players participate. “I saw the email [du Real Madrid]. JDid I doubt it? I never stopped at the first names, reacted Thierry Henry. We’ll try to see what we can do. But on arrival, the decision unfortunately remains with the club. It is difficult to ‘bluff’ without a card in hand.”

The Federation negotiates with French clubs so that they transfer their players for the tournament. Negotiations that are going in the right direction. On the other hand, like Real Madrid’s decision, it is difficult to obtain the same favors from foreign teams. In the coming weeks, Thierry Henry will therefore go to meet them to try to persuade them.

“One thing is certain, it is that we are not sure of a lot of things, concedes the Espoirs coach. It’s really difficult to be able to prepare something when you don’t really have any certainties.” The coach is looking forward to the two upcoming friendly matches against Ivory Coast (March 22) and the United States (March 25), knowing that the list of players formed for the occasion will certainly have nothing to do with that of next July.