From one furnace to another. This Friday morning, the Blues left Budapest and its 38 degrees to land a little further east, in Bucharest and its 37 degrees. Fortunately for Didier Deschamps and his men, the Romanian weather forecast predicts drops in temperature and thunderstorms over the next few days. We should even go below 30 degrees on Monday, the date of their round of 16 against Switzerland at the National Arena (9 p.m.). Enough to refresh the bodies tested by the sequence of matches and the very hot weather in Hungary.
In the meantime, the Blues hid themselves in their hotel in downtown Bucharest. Initially they should have gone to the great suburbs of Budapest, but the lawn of the Gardony stadium where they had planned to stay until Sunday developed a fungus. The staff therefore preferred to rally Romania directly, rather than risking further injuries on a pitch in poor condition.
Stretching, recovery and swimming
Faced with the cascade of players affected in recent days (Thuram, Lemar, Digne and Hernandez), the staff of the Blues opted for a reduction in the program. The training scheduled for this Friday afternoon at the Arc-de-Triomphe stadium was canceled and Lloris’ partners remained at the hotel to perform stretching and recovery. Those who wished could also use the swimming pool at the Hilton hotel where the French delegation resides.
This moment of pause responds to the will of the staff to rest the bodies overheated in recent days. From this Saturday, the Blues will find a more classic daily life. The world champions will train at the end of the day to prepare for their match against the Nati. They will then have Sunday left to set foot on the lawn of the imposing National Arena which will host 13,000 fans on Monday, or 25% of its maximum capacity.
