This will be an altogether very different experience to Tokyo 2021. That was Covid sans crowds. No real atmosphere. Olywhites also got a bit lucky drawing Honduras, Sth Korea and Romania. This time it's a much tougher group. For Guinea it will almost be like playing at home. There is a huge West African diaspora in France.
The Marseille Velodrome is one of the toughest venues for opposing teams. It's a rough immigrant port city. It will be a very intimidating crowd. Players struggling to hear each other, basically playing off instinct and the training ground. The French team will all be starters at minimum Ligue 1 clubs. Some at bigger European teams, riding off a wave of home town support. The crowd will be their 12th man, not that they will need it.
I remember a young inexperienced Stamenic in 2022 (he was playing Danish 2nd tier at that stage) basically getting stage fright, when AWs played Peru in Barcelona. A big crowd 99% behind the Peruvians. Hay hauled Stamenic off at HT, after he'd made a number of mistakes in the first half. You go from the Central League to that, it's very very tough.
The Marseille Velodrome is one of the toughest venues for opposing teams. It's a rough immigrant port city. It will be a very intimidating crowd. Players struggling to hear each other, basically playing off instinct and the training ground. The French team will all be starters at minimum Ligue 1 clubs. Some at bigger European teams, riding off a wave of home town support. The crowd will be their 12th man, not that they will need it.
I remember a young inexperienced Stamenic in 2022 (he was playing Danish 2nd tier at that stage) basically getting stage fright, when AWs played Peru in Barcelona. A big crowd 99% behind the Peruvians. Hay hauled Stamenic off at HT, after he'd made a number of mistakes in the first half. You go from the Central League to that, it's very very tough.