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Tag: France

  • Griezmann questions France tactics after Ukraine draw

    Griezmann questions France tactics after Ukraine draw

    Antoine Griezmann has questioned France’s tactics after Les Bleus were held to a frustrating 1-1 draw by Ukraine in 2022 World Cup qualifying on Wednesday.

    France head coach Didier Deschamps opted for a 4-4-2 shape rather than his usual 4-2-3-1 formation, and France struggled to adjust to the change.

    Griezmann opened the scoring in the 19th minute with a curled effort but France were unable to find a killer second goal. Les Bleus were punished in the second half, as Presnel Kimpembe’s own goal gave Ukraine a point in both teams’ qualifying opener.

    Speaking to TF1, Griezmann said: “We needed maybe more offensive players who are able to go one-v-one on the sidelines. We will learn to play in a system like that and try to start winning again. We wanted to win but we didn’t play a great game. We’re going to look at it all and try to improve.”

    Deschamps said: “We should have secured the win in the first half, we had the opportunities. It was more difficult in the second half.

    “The goal that we conceded was avoidable, we pushed to the end. We are obviously disappointed, it would have been ideal to win.

    “The result proves that Ukraine is a good team. We lacked energy in the second half. We can do better. It is not necessarily a match where we were going to create a lot of chances. We needed more precision and movement.”

    Goal

  • France’s ex-president, Nicolas Sarkozy, sentenced to jail for corruption

    France’s ex-president, Nicolas Sarkozy, sentenced to jail for corruption

    France’s former president Nicolas Sarkozy was on Monday found guilty of corruption and influence-peddling and sentenced to a three-year jail term.

    Sarkozy, 66, is however allowed to request that his prison term — of which two years are suspended — be served at home with an electronic bracelet.

    He is the first former French leader to be handed out a prison sentence that includes time with no remission. His predecessor at the Elysée Palace, Jacques Chirac, had been handed a two-year suspended jail term after being found guilty of corruption while Paris Mayor.

    Sarkozy was accused of offering to boost a high magistrate’s chance of obtaining a promotion in Monaco back in 2014 in return for leaked information about a judicial enquiry against him.

    Sarkozy, who was president from 2007 to 2012, firmly denied all the allegations against him during the 10-day trial that took place last year.

    Sarkozy’s lawyer, Thierry Herzog, and the senior judge, Gilbert Azibert, also denied wrongdoing. Both have been handed the same sentence as Sarkozy with the former also slapped with a five-year professional ban.

    Prosecutors had requested two years of prison and a two-year suspended sentence for all three defendants over what they said was a “corruption pact.”

    “No pact has ever existed,” Sarkozy told the court. “Neither in my head nor in reality.” “I want to be cleared of that infamy,” he added.

  • US, UK, France made COVID-19 Vaccines completely untrustworthy – Iran

    US, UK, France made COVID-19 Vaccines completely untrustworthy – Iran

    Iran’s supreme leader on Friday banned the import of American and British-produced vaccines against COVID-19, saying they were “completely untrustworthy”.

    “Importing vaccines made in the US or the UK is prohibited,” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a tweet, accompanied by the hashtag #CoronaVaccine.

    “It’s not unlikely they would want to contaminate other nations,” he added.

    The Islamic republic has reported more than 1.2 million cases of the novel coronavirus, which have caused over 56,000 deaths.

    Iran has accused arch-enemy the US of hampering its access to vaccines through a tough sanctions regime.

    While food and medicine are technically exempt from the measures, international banks tend to refuse transactions involving Iran.

    Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani said last month that Washington had demanded that Tehran pay for the drugs through US banks, adding that he feared the United States would seize the money.

    Khamenei also tweeted that “given our experience with France’s HIV-tainted blood supplies, French vaccines aren’t trustworthy either.”

    That was a reference to a scandal in the 1980s in which blood infected with HIV was distributed in France, and later abroad, even after the government became aware of the problem.

    Hundreds of people in Iran were among those infected.

    France’s then-prime minister Laurent Fabius was charged with manslaughter, but acquitted in 1999, while his health minister was convicted but never punished.

    Iran last month launched clinical trials of a vaccine developed in the Islamic republic, the Middle Eastern country hardest hit by the pandemic.

  • Tinubu not positive for COVID-19, currently on vacation in UK – Son, Seyi

    Tinubu not positive for COVID-19, currently on vacation in UK – Son, Seyi

    Seyi Tinubu, son of APC National leader, Bola Tinubu, has denied reports that his father has tested positive for COVID19 and is receiving treatment in France.

    There have been reports making the rounds on social media that the former Lagos State governor is currently receiving treatment for COVID19 in France after testing positive for the virus.

    Reacting, Seyi in a post via his Instastory on Sunday quoted his father’s spokesperson, Tunde Rahman, as saying Bola Tinubu has done the COVID-19 test 15 times and all the tests have returned negative.

    According to him, his father is currently in the UK taking a vaccine instead.

    “According to Tunde Rahman, spokesperson for Bola Tinubu, Asiwaju is not in Paris and he doesn’t have Coronavirus.

    “That’s a lie from the pit of hell because my father is very ok neither does he have the virus.

    “If you must know he has done the COVID-19 rest 15 times, each time he travels and mingles with many people though he always wore a face mask.

    “He is currently in London taking a vacation and there’s no iota of truth in the false information being shared,” he wrote.

  • Sad! Five dead as helicopter crashes in France

    Sad! Five dead as helicopter crashes in France

    A helicopter crashed on Tuesday evening in Savoie, southeast France, killing five persons, French media reported.

    The French Air Service (Service Aerien Francais, or SAF) helicopter with six people on board crashed at around 7:00 p.m., from an altitude of 1,800 meters in the town of Bonvillard in Savoie, according to BFM TV.

    The pilot of the helicopter who managed to eject himself sent an alert and contact was established with one of the occupants of the aircraft.

    More than 40 personnel are engaged in the search and rescue operations, it added.

    French President Emmanuel Macron tweeted: “To save lives, they take all the risks.

    “Tonight in Savoie, 3 members of the French Air Rescue (SAF) and 2 CRS Alpes succumbed to a helicopter crash.”

    Macron stated that a wounded person is fighting for life, and expressed condolences to the families, friends and colleagues of “these French heroes.”

    CRS Alpes is a unit of the National Police specialised in mountain rescue in the Alps.

    The SAF group is a private company which owns some 40 helicopters covering operations including emergency rescue, passenger transport and aerial work.

     

  • Media don’t rate me in France – Doucoure

    Media don’t rate me in France – Doucoure

    Everton midfielder Abdoulaye Doucoure feels he’s underrated in France.

    Doucoure believes he’s never been given fair coverage by the local media.

    The former Watford midfielder said: “I remember when I appeared on [French television channel] Canal Plus. I really didn’t enjoy it. It was at the time when PSG were tracking me.

    “And one of the journalists was a bit pro-Idrissa Gueye at that time. It was not nasty but anyway. It was a bit like: “Abdoulaye, you are a good player but you are not good enough to play for PSG or a big club.”

    “That hurt me a bit because I had been for three years performing in the Premier League. I had very good statistics, better ones than even certain French internationals.”

    “I still feel this thing: ‘He is a good player but not a top player or not for a top club’. In France, I am a bit underrated, yes, certainly. My fight will always be there, to prove people that I deserve to be in my place.

    “I can still do better, I can achieve my dreams, that will be my response to all the people who might have doubted me at one moment or another.”

  • I feel happy while on international duty – Pogba

    I feel happy while on international duty – Pogba

    Manchester United midfielder Paul Pogba admits he feels “happy” when away with France.

    While not running down the atmosphere at United, Pogba says he feels more relaxed while on international duty.

    He said, “Coming to the national team? It’s a window that opens. I speak with Antoine Griezmann and Raphaël Varane, we realise that the group is huge. And when we are on the field, we have fun.

    “It is not that in the club, we do not do this, but here, it is not the same. We laugh. It really is a family. And the group that we have, holders or substitutes, it’s really magical. And that’s why we are happy to come to the national team. The coach has enormous confidence in us. And we trust him too.”

  • Apostle Suleman recounts how his spiritual son ‘supernaturally’ landed in France from Germany

    Apostle Suleman recounts how his spiritual son ‘supernaturally’ landed in France from Germany

    The founder of Omega Fire Ministries International, Apostle Johnson Suleman has recounted how his protégé supernaturally landed in France from Germany without documents or ticket.

    The cleric who shared the testimony while ministering in his church, said his spiritual son got the directive of going to France from God after getting a prophecy from a church in the European country.

    He revealed that the man was asked to go to an airport in Germany and also told to join a queue of those whose documents were being processed for a flight to France.

     

    However before it got to his turn, Apostle Suleman said “God” directed his spiritual son to go to the toilet. While in the toilet, “God” asked him to pray and speak in tongues. Upon opening his eyes, he was in the toilet of an airport in France.

    The video has generated diverse reactions on social media

     

    Watch the video below…..

     

  • Griezmann Barca situation saddens me – Rami

    Griezmann Barca situation saddens me – Rami

    Boavista defender Adil Rami is sorry seeing Antoine Griezmann struggling at Barcelona.

    Rami played with Griezmann for France and has been keeping tabs on his problems at Barca.

    He told Le Parisien: “His situation saddens me. He’s a guy who is always happy and there I see him unhappy in a club.

    “I do not know if he is a victim of jealousy but I want to see the fulfilled Griezmann we saw at Atlético de Madrid.

    “He deserves to find happiness.”

  • Pogba cannot be happy at Man Utd – France coach

    Pogba cannot be happy at Man Utd – France coach

    Paul Pogba “cannot be happy” with his situation at Old Trafford, says France manager Didier Deschamps.

    Pogba has featured in 11 games for Manchester United this season but started in just five of those.

    He was again on the bench at Everton last Saturday before coming on after 82 minutes in a much-needed 3-1 win for United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

    Pogba is with France’s squad for games against Finland, Portugal and Sweden.

    “He is in a situation with his club where he cannot be happy, neither with his playing time, nor with his positioning,” said Deschamps.

    “He is not in his best period, he has had a series of injuries and the Covid-19 which has hit him quite hard. He needs to find his rhythm.

    “With me, there is no such concern. When a player is in discomfort in his club, obviously, he is happy to play for the France team.

    “He will tell me about his feelings and, as I know him very well, it will go in a positive direction.”

    Pogba, 27, re-joined United when he signed for £89m from Juventus in 2016.

    The last time he was on international duty in October he said it was “a dream” for him to play for Real Madrid one day.

    Later that month, United triggered the one-year option on Pogba’s contract as they extended his deal with them until 2022.