France beaten by Ivory Coast: Konaté and Gusto under fire twelve days before World Cup

France conceded a 1-2 defeat against Ivory Coast on Thursday evening in Nantes, twelve days before their World Cup 2026 opener scheduled for June 16 against Senegal. This first friendly warm-up match highlighted concerning defensive shortcomings.

On TF1’s panel, consultant and 1998 World Cup winner Bixente Lizarazu identified two players as directly responsible for the Elephants’ two goals. On Guéla Doué’s equalizer in the 53rd minute, Ibrahima Konaté appeared “jittery” according to Lizarazu, missing his intervention on Nicolas Pépé’s assist. On Amad Diallo’s second goal in the 84th minute, it was Malo Gusto, who came on in place of Jules Koundé in the 66th minute, who was “caught out of position”.

Despite these criticisms, Lizarazu sought to nuance his analysis of the central defense. “Konaté, Upamecano and Saliba, that’s the trio we can rely on,” he said. “For Konaté, his season is a bit more difficult with Liverpool but I think we have three very good centre-backs. I’m not going to draw definitive conclusions from a single match even if, yes, we could have done better defensively in our positioning and alignment.”

L’Équipe was harsher, giving the Liverpool defender a rating of 4/10. The newspaper highlights a recurring positioning difficulty: accustomed to playing on the left of central defense with the Reds, Konaté occupies the right side for France. “If William Saliba returns to form in time, his teammate’s place is in danger,” the newspaper writes.

The context partially mitigates the concerns: several key players were absent and Didier Deschamps made extensive changes in the second half. Nevertheless, this defeat comes at a delicate moment, and questions about France’s defensive alignment will undoubtedly fuel debate until the World Cup kicks off.