Didier Deschamps still sees a lot of room for improvement in the USA.Image: keystone
France is once again one of the top favorites for the World Cup in 2026. But during a preparatory visit, coach Didier Deschamps expressed clear criticism of the circumstances in the host country, the USA.
March 29, 2026, 06:48March 29, 2026, 06:59
While Switzerland, among others tested against Germanythe French national team is touring North America to prepare for the World Cup. In terms of results, the Equipe Tricolore are doing well; they managed to win against World Cup co-favorites Brazil on Saturday despite being long outnumbered.
But the French coach, Didier Deschamps, who has been in office since 2012 and left after the World Cup, didn’t have much positive to say about the surrounding circumstances. The 57-year-old, who led France to the World Cup title in 2018, criticized various things in the USA at the press conference after the Brazil game, such as Kicker reported.
Among other things, the organization at the World Cup must improve significantly. «We have problems with the access routes. Not because of the distance, but because of the time.” The traffic in US cities is very dense, there is often a risk of delays and planned training sessions may have to be canceled on the current trip. France played against Brazil in Foxborough, Massachusetts, where the team will also play one of the three World Cup group games.
It also makes little sense that the team cannot train in the stadium, but the media activities are held there. Only 45 minutes are planned between training on another pitch and the start of media appointments, which is very short and therefore causes organizational problems.
Deschamps criticizes airport controls
According to Deschamps, the political situation also has an influence on the delays. The checks at the airports took a very long time, including for the players. Deschamps:
“There are controls like I’ve never seen in my life.”
The government of US President Trump massively tightened controls during his term in office. Since the actual security staff at the airports are not being paid due to the budget dispute in the US Congress and are therefore largely not showing up for work, Trump recently sent officers from the controversial immigration agency ICE to the airports.
The French national team coach, who will probably leave his post to another football legend after the World Cup, Zinedine Zidane, explained at the media conference that the actions of the Trump authorities had already caused problems at the Club World Cup last year.
“I spoke to the players who were there and they reported some situations with complications – sometimes more, sometimes less.”
The current trip to the US doesn’t seem to be igniting great anticipation for the World Cup among the French. Didier Deschamps’ team will play against Colombia near the US capital Washington on Sunday. At the World Cup in June, Les Bleus will face Senegal, Norway and the winner of the playoff game Iraq against Bolivia in the group stage. (con)