At the heart of a lively controversy after its non-match against Iran in the group, the French team beat Thailand in the round of 16 of the Futsal World Cup this Friday (5-2). Enough to put the Thai coach in his place, author of extremely harsh remarks against the Blues before the match… and still very angry after this round of 16.
The French futsal team responded in the best possible way. At the center of a lively controversy after their non-match against Iran in the group stage (4-1 defeat), the Blues dominated Thailand in the round of 16 of the World Cup this Friday (5-2) .
Before the match, the coach of this Thai team, Miguel Rodrigo, had accused France of having deliberately lost against Iran to avoid the supposedly most delicate part of the table in the final phase. “Iran and France, coaches and players, have disgraced my sport. You are a global shame!”, the Thai coach said on social networks.
Thai coach sent off at end of match
After his team’s defeat against France in this round of 16, Miguel Rodrigo once again appeared very agitated near his sidelines, insulting certain French players. He was sent off after the final whistle.
“The Thai coach was more busy talking about us than taking care of his team. He completely lost his cool at the end of the match. He said things that I won’t say, because we’re not there to fuel the controversy”, indicated the French player Abdessamad Mohammed after the meeting. “But we had a plan. Against Iran, we were really disappointed with the image it gave. We got over this little cloud and things are much better.”
Qualified for the quarter-finals of the World Cup while competing in this competition for the first time, the Blues did not want to be parasitized by this controversy. “We remained very calm about all that. There was a large part of intoxication in his behavior and he tried to lead us on that. We remained focused on the game,” commented Raphaël Raynaud, the French coach, at a press conference. “We don’t need any extra motivation when we’re playing in the round of 16 of the World Cup. We were overmotivated because we didn’t want the adventure to end today. There was no need for more motivation”, assured Kevin Ramirez, the French captain.
With the controversy behind them, the Blues now have a meeting with Paraguay in the quarter-final, Monday September 30 at 2:30 p.m.
