France are determined to complete the World Cup group stage with a perfect record and are playing for their coach Didier Deschamps who has left the camp to attend the funeral of his mother.
The news broke on Tuesday and a video showed the squad forming a circle ahead of Wednesday training and observing a minute of silence.
“We are thinking closely of our national coach and his family,” the French team wrote. Captain Kylian Mbappé added the message: “You are not alone.”
The tragic loss has overshadowed preparations for the match against Norway which Les Bleus enter top of Group I on goal difference ahead of their Scandinavian rivals.
But it could also bring the squad, currently coached by assistant Guy Stéphan, even closer together.
“He is going through a difficult time right now. We are standing together as one during this period,” federation president Philippe Diallo said in a video on X.
The World Cup weeks in the United States were supposed to become some of the finest moments of Deschamps' 14 years in charge which will end after the tournament, with Zinédine Zidane expected to follow.
He won the 2018 World Cup and was a finalist in 2022 as well as at Euro 2016. France also won the Nations League in 2021.
Another title on July 19 would be the third for France but also for Deschamps because he was the captain of the team that lifted the trophy for the first time in 1998.
Deschamps announced that he will step down long before the tournament, and he has said: “I’m not counting every day, I’m enjoying every day.”
If he succeeds again he will join Italy's Vittorio Pozzo (1934, 1938) to win two World Cups as national team coach.
Deschamps is expected to return to the team on Saturday for the knock-out rounds and will hope that his players will have won the group.
For that they must avoid defeat against Norway in what will be a fascinating duel of striker stars Mbappé and Erling Haaland.
Both have four goals for the tournament and Mbappé is just two behind Lionel Messi's all-time World Cup goals record of 18.
