Deschamps unruffled by Fifa choosing Argentinian officials for quarter-final

BRIAN SNYDER/REUTERS

Didier Deschamps confirmed Michael Olise’s yellow card still stands

9 Jul 2026 - The Guardian

Jonathan Wilson 

Foxborough - Didier Deschamps has insisted he is not concerned by the appointment of Argentinian officials to oversee the World Cup quarter-final between France and Morocco today, with a repeat of the 2022 final against Argentina still possible. “We have to deal with it,” he said. “I trust the referees. Our opponent is Morocco, not the referee.”

The France head coach, though, is not a natural diplomat. This was a characteristically combative display from Deschamps, who spent at least 90 seconds at the end of his press conference explaining why he really did not have time to answer one final question, before reluctantly answering, grumpily. He could not resist a jibe at those, many in the north African media, who had criticised the French official François Letexier’s performance during the last-16 game between Argentina and Egypt on Tuesday.

“Let’s hope ours are as good as Monsieur Letexier was,” he said. He was also scornful of questions from a Moroccan journalist about a penalty that might have been awarded for a possible foul on Sofiane Boufal in the World Cup semi-final between the sides in 2022.

Integrity has been a recurring theme recently and the appointment of Facundo Tello to referee the game with two Argentinian assistants, an Argentinian reserve assistant and an Argentinian fourth official raised eyebrows. Argentina were outraged by a – widely misconstrued – comment from Kylian Mbappé before the last tournament about European successes at recent World Cups, which in part provoked a racist chant that formed part of their victory celebrations after the final in Doha. The years since have been characterised by pointed remarks from both sides.

“There’s been a certain bitterness for a few years now since the last final, but that’s part of the game,” said France’s reserve goalkeeper Robin Risser, although he sought to play down an issue that has erupted on social media. “If these referees are there, it’s because they’re up to the level of the competition.”

At the same time, the repercussions of the bruising last-16 win against Paraguay have carried on with Celeste Amarilla, a senator for Paraguay’s Liberal Radical party, deleting social media posts in which she racially abused Kylian Mbappé, whose penalty won the game for France, but demanding an apology for the Real Madrid forward dismissing her as “a despicable woman” who was “unworthy of your position”. The Paraguayan government and Infantino condemned Amarilla, and French prosecutors are investigating.

France’s players had shown remarkable self-control against Paraguay, and their federation had indicated its disdain for the machinations that led to the USA forward Folarin Balogun’s one-match ban for his red card against Bosnia and Herzegovina being suspended by appealing against a yellow card shown to Michael Olise. Deschamps confirmed, though, that Fifa has said the yellow card stands; there was no invoking of article 27 of the disciplinary code as there had been in the case of Balogun, seemingly after the intervention of Donald Trump.

France’s head coach was keen to underline how difficult an opponent Morocco will be. “They don’t have the profile of Paraguay,” he said. “We will need to be very effective because this Morocco is of very high quality. The level rises as you climb the mountain.”

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Rewind to … 2022

2022 World Cup semi-final

Morocco, the first African side to reach the last four, fall behind to an early goal by Théo Hernandez. They push the French all the way but the substitute Randal Kolo Muani adds a second 11 minutes from time to seal France’s final date with Argentina. “Before, people maybe hoped Morocco could compete with the biggest nations,” says the winger Zakaria Aboukhlal. “Now everyone knows Morocco belongs at that level.”