France coach Herve Renard felt that facing Croatia at this time was a good option before heading to Qatar for the World Cup.
And Renard confirmed during yesterday’s press conference that the Croatian national team is a candidate for the World Cup, as they reached the final of the latest version of the tournament, and they have a coach whom I respect very much and great players, stressing that the match will be strong.
Our team will open their World Cup tournament on November 22 against Argentina, and Croatia will start their matches against Morocco on the 23rd of the same month.
Renard added: “This is our last match, seven days before our first match at the World Cup”, adding: “Playing against Croatia is a good option before the World Cup because they have a great coach.”
And the French coach pointed out that during his training career he played many friendly matches, but the official matches are always the most important, explaining that the motives for today’s match are different from those of Argentina’s match at the World Cup.
With regard to the transfer of the match from the Marsoul Park Stadium to the Prince Faisal bin Fahd Stadium; Due to the unpreparedness of the first floor and the transfer of the date of the match from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m., he said: “In football, you have to adapt to all circumstances.”
In a message to the fans, Renard demanded: “My main message is that you trust the players. You know them well, and we know that the competition is strong, we must have confidence and feel it, playing at such a level.
He added that Fahd al-Maulid would suffer the most. Given the timing of the elimination, I will miss Fahd because he is an important player for the national team and he influenced us in the qualifying matches, he scored four goals and set up the same and whoever replaces him, we trust him and we we trust the group that we have.
Renard confirmed Salman Al Faraj’s readiness for today’s match after the injury he suffered against Panama, pointing out that he is a team leader and an important player, and emphasized that all players are fully prepared and can play 90 minutes in the upcoming matches.