Zidane qualifies France but raises his voice after disappointing first half

France secured qualification for the UEFA Nations League quarter-finals by dominating Turkey 2-1 at Stade Atlantique de Bordeaux on Sunday, in the sixth and final day of the group stage. Topping their group, the Blues will be seeded in the quarter-final draw, scheduled for November 20 in Switzerland.

Three days after suffering his first defeat as France manager in Italy, Zinédine Zidane did not hide his frustration. “On the content, we can be a little puzzled, especially with our pressing in the first half. When I don’t see certain things on the pitch, we are a bit frustrated,” he said immediately after the match. The manager was even more direct: “We weren’t good at all with our pressing. I wasn’t happy, the players weren’t either.”

Zidane did, however, acknowledge a clear improvement after the break. “We corrected that at half-time and we were better after. We like to run with the ball, not without it, that’s not our thing. We did it better in the second half, we need to repeat it.” The half-time message had apparently been firm: according to defender Jérémy Jacquet, “he didn’t yell but he raised his voice about our progression axes when losing the ball.”

Jacquet, who plays for Liverpool, also highlighted a structural challenge for this France team in construction. “Everyone defends differently in their club and in the national team, we need to quickly find our automatisms together,” he explained, summing up the work ahead of Zidane before the quarter-finals.