Assistant coach Guy Stephan said France would be stronger for the physical test they faced against Paraguay and were preparing for a very different challenge when they take on Morocco in the World Cup quarter-finals on Thursday.
France romped into the second knockout round but had to scrap their way past a rugged Paraguay side with very little protection from the match officials in Philadelphia on Saturday to get into the last eight. Stephan confirmed that the French federation had appealed against key forward Michael Olise's yellow card, one of three shown to French players during the clash to one for the Paraguayans.
"I think that playing a match like that at this stage of the tournament was fruitful for us, because it gives answers about what the players are capable of in the face of that kind of adversity," he told reporters on Monday.
"It was a day when it would have been easy to lose control, and nobody lost control. So that is still proof of maturity, even if they are young players.
"It was a hard match, physically and mentally draining. Now we've moved on," he added.
GENUINE CLASS
Morocco will be aiming to reach the semi-finals for the second straight World Cup in Boston on Thursday and Stephan said there was no doubt they were a team with genuine class.
"It will be a completely different kind of opposition from what we just had," he said.
"It's a well-organised, well-structured team, a team with a certain solidity, and above all a team that is very good in transition that has scored a lot of goals .
"They also have individual strengths, whether on the right side or the left side, It's undeniably a quality team." Stephan said forward Marcus Thuram, who missed France's last two matches with a calf issue, would return to training on Monday but midfielder Aurelien Tchouameni was still struggling with an adductor injury he sustained before the Paraguay match.
"We'll see each day whether his injury is healing or not," said the 69 year old, who has been the right-hand man of coach Didier Deschamps since 2009.
"We are a bit pressed for time, it's true, because the match is on Thursday, but he is continuing his individual work today and tomorrow." Stephan, who took charge of the team for the third group match when Deschamps returned to France following the death of his mother, gave a succinct response to the racist tirade aimed at striker Kylian Mbappe by a Paraguayan senator. "In three words," he said. "It's disgraceful, vile, outrageous." — Reuters
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