France have made their decision on Ibrahima Konaté in the World Cup final, according to reports. The Liverpool defender has been superb.
L’Équipe reports that Ibrahima Konaté will not start the World Cup final. France manager Didier Deschamps has gone for Raphael Varane and Dayot Upamecano instead.
That’s despite Konaté playing brilliantly in the semi-final against Morocco. The Liverpool defender earned plenty of praise for his efforts as they kept a clean-sheet.
Jamie Carragher felt he was Man of the Match, in fact – though, we’ll admit there’s some bias there. Still, there’s no denying that Konaté was fantastic in the biggest game of his career. Even if he couldn’t celebrate it properly.
But Deschamps has returned to his first-choice pairing for the final. Illness in the camp threatened to shake things up, with all three of Konaté, Varane and Upamecano going down with something.
All three returned to training this week, though.
World Cup final: Ibrahima Konaté
We didn’t actually expect Konaté to go to the tournament, in truth. He only had two France caps ahead of the squad announcement and has spent most of this season injured.
Deschamps trusted him, though, and Konaté paid that back immediately. He’s started a few games in Qatar, coming off the bench in others, and has been magnificent every time.
Konaté has been so good, in fact, that we thought he might get the nod in the final. It’s not exactly a shock that Deschamps has returned to his first-choice pairing but we do think the Liverpool star has looked the most impressive of the three.
Perhaps he’s just not quite considered ready for a game like this – Konaté is still only 23, after all. Or at least, not as ready as Varane and Upamecano.
Having watch Konaté over the last year, though, we won’t be surprised if Deschamps regrets this decision come full-time. What a player he’s become.
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