In an interview with Parisian this Wednesday, just after the heavy defeat of the French Olympic team against Japan (0-4), Noël Le Graët found extenuating circumstances for Sylvain Ripoll’s men, eliminated in the first round of the competition: “Unfortunately it was inevitable. We could not have the U21 team. I take my hat off to the players, they gave their best but they were not prepared. Despite the difficulties in putting together the list, j I preferred to send a team rather than forfeit but we had no hopes. ”
“It is imperative that the Olympics are Fifa dates”
The president of the FFF believes that the coach “did not have it easy” and wishes to remedy the problem of the refusal of clubs to release their players by registering the Olympic tournament on the Fifa calendar for the next Olympic Games, in Paris in 2024. “It is imperative that the Olympics are Fifa dates” said Le Graët, believing that “the would make sense if the Olympic team could rely on the selected players. Today this is not the case, the clubs have the possibility to say no. I am in favor of it being only under-20s, for the most part, but we have to coordinate the calendars, that Fifa impose the dates. “
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