The next day began.
The entire French squad entered a state of match preparation, gearing up for the two final warm-up matches before the World Cup.
Meanwhile, something rather interesting was happening.
Just after the entire national team had assembled, the kit sponsor of the French national team publicly destroyed the very bus the squad had ridden in during the 2010 World Cup.
Around 400 spectators had gathered on-site to witness its destruction. Whether it was the French Football Federation or the fans, everyone hoped that a gesture like this would serve as a warning to the players—to leave the past behind, stay united, and achieve good results at the World Cup in Brazil.
Back then, Evra had gotten into a shouting match with fitness coach Robert Duverne during training, and when then-head coach Raymond Domenech stepped in to mediate, Duverne had inexplicably hurled abuse at him too.
Duverne had stormed off the training pitch and boarded the team bus, and the French players refusing to continue training had followed him off the field one after another, climbing aboard the bus themselves. It had ended in the infamous training strike.
That was the very bus being destroyed this time.
Honestly, when Julien heard the news, he was a little taken aback.
Time at the Clairefontaine training camp flew by. On the evening of May 27th, every member of the French squad gathered at the training base, preparing to head to Nice a day ahead of schedule.
Deschamps delivered his final pre-match talk and, while he was at it, announced tomorrow's starting lineup. After all, tomorrow they would face Norway, their opponent for the first warm-up match before the World Cup, a match of no small significance.
Norway wasn't a World Cup team. They wouldn't be too strong—after all, at this point there was no Haaland, no Ødegaard, and no expanded tournament field. All the more reason for France to use them to sharpen tactical cohesion. That, after all, was the point of a warm-up match. Training alone couldn't expose certain problems.
Deschamps let his gaze sweep slowly over each player, and once the room had fallen completely silent, he spoke slowly.
"You've all performed well these past few days of camp. Your attitude has been serious, and your understanding of each other on the pitch keeps improving. Tomorrow's warm-up match, I'm announcing a rotated starting lineup. The goal is to give more of you a chance to find your match rhythm, to let the squad gel, and to get ready for the World Cup. We'll keep playing a 4-2-3-1..."
With that, Deschamps read out the starting lineup, clear and precise—
Goalkeeper: Ruffier;
Back line: Debuchy, Sakho, Koscielny, Evra;
Double pivot: Matuidi, Cabaye;
Attacking trident: Griezmann, Pogba, Valbuena;
Striker: Giroud.
It was a fairly unglamorous lineup for France. Once the list was announced, the players nodded along, without the slightest objection. Everyone understood this was a rotation lineup—one that let the regular starters rest while giving the fringe players a precious chance to play and get up to speed with the team's tactical system as quickly as possible.
Griezmann, Pogba, and the other first-time World Cup squad members even the ones starting had a flicker of excitement cross their eyes. Quietly, they resolved to perform well in the warm-up matches and fight for a place in the World Cup starting eleven.
As for the players left out of the starting lineup—none of them regular starters either, their expressions stayed calm. They quietly noted Deschamps's instructions, ready to give everything the moment they got their chance off the bench.
Watching the players' reactions, Deschamps nodded, satisfied, and went on:
"This lineup is built around rotation. Every one of you needs to make the most of this chance—really use the warm-up matches to find your form, sharpen your understanding of each other, get familiar with the tactical rhythm, and bring out what you've worked on in training.
Don't get complacent just because it's only a warm-up. Every time you step on the pitch, you're banking experience for the World Cup. Every bit of understanding you build together makes us stronger."
"Understood!" the players answered in unison.
Soon after, everyone packed up their things, getting ready to set off. And Julien happened to catch Ribéry, mid-packing, reach back and touch his lower back.
Seeing that, a flicker of worry rose in Julien's chest.
Yesterday, when Deschamps had told Julien that Ribéry would be left out of the warm-up starting lineup, he'd added, almost in passing, that Ribéry's back injury still hadn't healed.
And the situation wasn't looking good to protect him, to avoid making the injury worse, they didn't dare put him on the pitch for the warm-ups, not for now. He'd just have to keep resting. The hope was to hold him back until the World Cup itself, and let him come on and help then.
When Julien had first heard this yesterday, he hadn't thought much of it. But seeing Ribéry now, the situation seemed worse than he'd imagined.
Julien's memory blurred. He couldn't even remember clearly whether Ribéry had actually played in the 2014 World Cup. Vague fragments stirred somewhere in his mind, but he could never piece them into a complete answer. But a strong instinct rose up in him—that Ribéry might not have played in that World Cup at all.
That guess only deepened the worry in Julien's heart. Deschamps had always been a cautious man. If Ribéry's back injury weren't genuinely serious, he would never keep him out of the warm-ups entirely and he certainly wouldn't have gone out of his way to mention it to Julien alone.
Julien knew exactly what Ribéry was capable of. This was a Ballon d'Or-calibre player—the biggest name on the French squad besides himself. And the core of France's attacking line! Vital to France's World Cup campaign. If Ribéry's back injury cost him the World Cup, it would be a massive loss for France and it would make their whole tournament that much harder.
But Julien knew there was nothing he could do about it. He could only silently pray Ribéry would recover quickly and make it to the World Cup in time.
May 28th. Night. The stadium in Nice was packed to capacity. An international friendly, part of France's preparations for the 2014 Brazil World Cup, officially kicked off. France, playing at home, faced the visiting Nordic side Norway.
The match was also the first of France's three pre-World Cup warm-ups—Deschamps had deliberately lined up Norway, Paraguay, and Jamaica as opponents, each chosen to prepare for the group-stage opposition. Their styles of play were meant to mirror Switzerland, Ecuador, and Honduras respectively, giving the friendlies quite a bit of preparatory value.
The two sides had met 14 times before, with France holding a slight edge at 6 wins, 4 draws, and 4 losses.
On home soil, however, France's record of 3 wins, 2 draws, and 2 losses gave them no clear advantage at all. Worth noting was: the last time France had beaten Norway traced all the way back to a World Cup qualifier in September 1988, when France had edged them 1-0 at home.
Since then, across four meetings, Norway had gone unbeaten—3 draws and 1 win with the two sides' last encounter being a friendly in August 2010, which France lost 1-2 away. In this home fixture, France was eager to break their recent run of poor results against Norway.
Just as Deschamps had planned beforehand, France made extensive changes to the lineup for this match. The regular starters were all given a rest. Julien sat on the bench alongside Varane, Kanté, and others, watching the action unfold on the pitch. Ribéry, his back injury still unhealed wasn't even included in the matchday squad. The starting lineup was exactly the rotated 4-2-3-1 announced before the match.
From the opening whistle, France showed a strong hunger to attack, quickly seizing control of the game.
In the 2nd minute, France won a free kick in the attacking third. Valbuena delivered it with precision, and Griezmann rose to meet it with a header, but Norwegian goalkeeper Nyland battled it clear, out for a corner. From the resulting corner, Giroud met a cross with a header, but Nyland again produced a fine save, tipping it away, defusing France's string of chances.
In the 7th minute, a misplaced pass in the Norwegian midfield handed France a fast-break opportunity. Pogba slid the ball wide to Debuchy in the final third, but the pass carried too much weight—Debuchy chased it down but couldn't bring it under control, and it ran out of play, squandering a promising counter.
In the 10th minute, Matuidi broke through down the left and delivered a cross from the byline. Norwegian defender Nordtveit managed to head it clear, but Valbuena met the loose ball with a long-range strike; it deflected off Griezmann's head, grazed the post, and went out of play—another chance was gone pleading for France.
In the 15th minute, France finally broke the deadlock!
Matuidi picked up the ball on the left and threaded a precise pass through. Valbuena, ducking in from an offside position to receive it, whipped in a quality cross, and Pogba rose high in the box, snapping his head at the ball—it hit the back of the net, and France led Norway 1-0.
The goal was Juventus's "100 Million Euros Man" Pogba's second in nine appearances for the French national team!
On the bench, Julien and Varane clapped together, sending their congratulations to their teammate. After all, Pogba was part of their little football brotherhood now too.
Off the pitch, the two of them got along great. Pogba had even told Julien ahead of time that he wanted to move back to the Premier League but he was worried about running into Julien's Liverpool. He'd even asked, only half-joking, whether Liverpool might as well go and sign him too.
Of course, it was only a joke.
UEFA had already sanctioned plenty of clubs by now, all of them were for falling foul of Financial Fair Play.
Liverpool themselves had skated right up to the line, splurging hard in the tail end of the loophole window before it closed. Now, even wanting to spend money had gotten difficult. There was no way Liverpool could buy Pogba. Even with the money, they had no way to spend it.
That was exactly the biggest constraint Financial Fair Play placed on wealthy owners.
On the pitch, France, now ahead, didn't let up but Norway was gradually finding their own rhythm and beginning to fight back.
In the 25th minute, Matuidi brought down Joshua King while tracking back, giving Norway a free kick. Nordtveit stepped up to take it, whipping in a low, driven shot aimed straight for the corner of the French goal—it clipped the post and rolled out of play.
It left Ruffier in a cold sweat. As the backup keeper, he knew he'd probably not get a single minute at the World Cup itself. But then again, who didn't have dreams?
In the 30th minute, Norway threaded a ball through the middle, finding Joshua King making a run in behind. Koscielny reacted quickly, tracking back and clearing the ball out of play, snuffing out the danger.
In the 37th minute, Matuidi picked up the ball in the final third and slipped a through-ball to Griezmann. The La Liga winger drove forward with a powerful run before laying it back with a diagonal pass, but Giroud, arriving in the middle, overran his position—no one was there at the back post to finish, and France squandered a golden chance to extend their lead.
In the 40th minute, Evra switched the play from the left to Cabaye, who slid it through to Griezmann; Griezmann laid it off, and Cabaye struck from just outside the box, but the Norwegian defense threw themselves in front of it and blocked the shot.
In the 42nd minute, Norway won a corner. It was played into the box, and Ruffier came out decisively, claiming the ball cleanly. A minute later, Norway went on the attack again—Linnes struck at goal from a tight angle inside the box, and Ruffier blocked it with his leg, preserving France's lead.
The first half ended with France leading Norway 1-0 at home.
Second half.
After the change of ends, France carried the same attacking intensity into the second half. Deschamps also made two changes, taking off Evra and Pogba and bringing on Digne and Kanté.
In the 50th minute, France extended their lead!
After winning the ball back in midfield, Valbuena quickly fed it to Giroud, who cushioned it deftly with his left foot, slipped past a Norwegian defender closing him down, and then curled a beautiful outside-of-the-boot chip that arced through the air, sailing over the fingertips of a stretching Nyland and into the net—France now led 2-0.
It was Valbuena's second assist of the match. Giroud's finish was pure elegance, and it drew applause and cheers from the home crowd.
Before the match, some had said they should have brought Real Madrid striker Benzema instead but going by this, Giroud might just be more useful than Benzema after all.
In the 53rd minute, France came storming back, Valbuena, picking up the ball in the attacking third, was scythed down by Joshua King tracking back, winning France a free kick in a dangerous position. Koscielny got on the end of it, sliding in for a volleyed flick, but the ball sailed just over the bar, wasting the chance.
In the 58th minute, Griezmann drove past his man down the left and sent it to Cabaye, and the Paris Saint-Germain midfielder let fly from outside the box, but the shot drifted just wide of the post, failing to extend the lead any further.
In the 67th minute, France scored again, extending the lead to 3-0! Matuidi won the ball back in midfield and squared it to Debuchy, who turned and slid a precise through-ball forward. Rémy, on as a substitute, showed off tremendous pace, tearing into the opposition box, and with Nyland rushing out to meet him, slotted it home with a right-footed finish—the icing on the cake.
Just two minutes later, France struck again, making it 4-0 and putting the game beyond doubt!
Digne took the ball down, then fed the overlapping Valbuena, who whipped in a precise left-footed cross; Giroud rose in the box with a graceful header, planting the ball into the far corner of the net—his second of the match. And with that assist, Valbuena completed an assist hat-trick for the match, making him one of the standout players on the pitch.
With a powerful lead in hand, France eased off the attacking tempo, shifting their focus to defensive shape and squad cohesion.
In the 72nd minute, Matuidi threaded a through-ball, and Rémy burst into the box for a fierce left-footed strike, but it drifted just wide.
After that, the pace of the game slowed further still. It wasn't until the 90th minute that Rémy carried the ball into the box and chipped a shot with his right foot, which Nyland just managed to tip over the bar with everything he had, sparing his side from conceding again.
Peep!
In the end, the final whistle blew, the referee's call ending the match: France thrashed visiting Norway 4-0 at home.
A comfortable win in their first pre-World Cup warm-up match!
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