Emmanuel LANGELLIER, Media365: published on Wednesday October 9, 2024 at 2:26 p.m.
Find the key figures before the League of Nations meeting between Israel and France, scheduled for Thursday evening in Budapest (8:45 p.m.).
– Israel and the French team will face each other for the 10th time this Thursday (kick-off at 8:45 p.m.) in Budapest in the Nations League. The results of the confrontations? 4 French victories, 1 Israeli success and 4 draws. The Blues won on February 17, 1993 (4-0, 1994 World Cup qualifying), November 15, 1995 (2-0, Euro 1996 qualifying), April 2, 2003 (2-1) and October 11, 2003 (3-0) in qualifying for Euro 2004. Israel surprised the Blues on October 13, 1993 (3-2) during a famous qualifying match for the 1994 World Cup. Finally, the two teams met neutralized on January 27, 1988 (1-1 in a friendly), March 29 (0-0, Euro 1996 qualifiers), September 4, 2004 (0-0) and March 30, 2005 (1-1) in qualifying at the 2006 World Cup.
– Since the first selection of Antoine Griezmann, who just retired internationally last week to everyone’s surprise, in 2014, the French team will evolve without the Atlético de Madrid striker for, only, the 7th time. The previous 6 times took place during friendly meetings. This Israel-France will therefore be the first competitive match without “Grizou” since the return play-off against Ukraine in November 2013.
Dembélé the most capped player against Israel
– The match being played in Budapest due to the conflict between the Jewish state and Hamas, France will play away without being received in the country which it faces for the 5th time. The previous ones took place in 1994 against Azerbaijan (the match was played in Trabzon in Turkey), in 1999 against Andorra (match in Barcelona in Spain), in 2003 against, already, Israel (in Palermo in Italy) and in 2023 against Gibraltar (match played in Faro, Portugal).
– While Antoine Griezmann (137 caps), Kylian Mbappé (86) and N’Golo Kanté (63) will be absent unlike the last gathering in September, Ousmane Dembélé will advance as the most capped player in the French group. The PSG striker could honor his 52nd selection against Israel. You have to go back to October 2015 to see a Blues match where the most experienced element on the field had 52 selections or less (52nd and, moreover, last selection for Mathieu Valbuena). It was against Denmark (2-1 victory with a double from Olivier Giroud).
