France coach Didier Deschamps said his team is only thinking about the World Cup quarterfinal against Morocco despite the debate over refereeing after Argentina’s win over Egypt.
Questions have continued over French referee Francois Letexier’s decisions in the Argentina against Egypt match. FIFA also appointed an all Argentine refereeing team for France’s quarterfinal, which added to the discussion.
“There are always decisions that can be debated. It all depends on which side you’re on,” Deschamps said during Wednesday’s press conference.
“Our opponent is Morocco, not the referees. I trust the referees.”
Deschamps also backed Letexier. He said he hopes the officials for Thursday’s match will perform “as good as Monsieur Letexier was.”
The France coach said his players are fully focused on the game and not on the talk around the referees.
Deschamps, who won the World Cup as a player in 1998 and as coach in 2018, said Morocco are a dangerous side with one goal in mind.
“They are here to win,” he said.
He also urged his players to take their chances better after their narrow last 16 win over Paraguay.
Deschamps also confirmed that FIFA rejected France’s appeal to cancel Michael Olise’s yellow card against Paraguay. The booking will remain.
The decision came only days after FIFA removed a match suspension for United States forward Folarin Balogun following intervention from US President Donald Trump.
