Most Euro training sessions are closed to the media. They are cunning in order to gather information.
Not seen not caught. In the caravan of journalists from the French team, as in that of most of the selections present at the Euro, it is a popular sport: defying the ban on closed doors to try to gather some information on future compositions.
“First there is the search for information. But it is also a game. For the FFF and for us. It’s almost childish, it’s cat and mouse”jokes a follower of the Blues. The game is worth the candle for the media that will be the first to announce the good “composition”. But “crack” behind closed doors, according to the established expression, can also present its risks.
The day before the Netherlands-France match in Leipzig on 21 June, three colleagues tried. A look under the tarpaulin to catch a glimpse of the bibs. Until a UEFA official happened by. No discussion, the trio received a yellow card: a one-match suspension and no place in the stands for the match. “It’s calming when there is a suspension with regard to its writing, resume our “cracker”who no longer counts the number of times he has been caught. There, they wanted to make an example.”
“At the end, they even served us tea”
The incident tells the story of the increasingly hermetic closure around selections, the majority of which are only open for a quarter of an hour. “Since Euro 2021, there has been real work in advance on the part of the federation to prevent the closed-door matches from being cracked. This year, it is very, very tight.”
More “not impossible either”smiles our colleague. In Paderborn, the training ground of the French team in Germany, about ten of the sixty or so accredited journalists are said to be attempting a stunt as old as the invention of the closed-door meeting.
The anecdotes are legion. Like that of this journalist from L’Équipe who came with stepladder and binoculars to the Rambouillet forest. Spotted by security, he was turned away before finding two of his tires punctured, the book recounted in 2014. “Deschamps’ gang”.
Our witness had unlocked the secret of Istra at the 2018 World Cup. “There were buildings around the training stadium. With a fixer, we knocked on the doors. A family, whose father was a football fan, welcomed us. We hid on the terrace with our binoculars. At the At the end, they even served us tea.”he laughs.
Didier Deschamps had little taste for leaks. And the story of our spies ended before the semi-finals, with the Russian police in the apartment. Because if they are aware, the selections tolerate this little game less and less.
Among the Blues, “DD” assures that he does not pay attention to it. But his actions say otherwise. As proof, the way in which he blurred the lines at the Euro and announced the compositions to his players, through a meeting or individually. “The more it goes on, the more it will stretch him.” And make the game exciting.
2024-06-30 10:01:00
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