Brice Samba with the French national team
Called up by Didier Deschamps, Brice Samba arrived at Clairefontaine today to prepare for his first World Cup. Les Bleus will play two friendly matches:
- France v Côte d’Ivoire, on Thursday 4 June in Nantes.
- France v Northern Ireland, on Monday 8 June in Lille.
Following this preparation, the French team will fly to Boston, in the United States, to face Senegal, Iraq and Norway:
- France v Senegal, Tuesday 16 June at 9.00 pm
- France v Iraq, Monday 22 June at 11.00 pm
- Norway v France, Friday 26 June at 9.00 pm
Mousa Al-Tamari with the Jordan national team
Mousa Al-Tamari is one of the 26 Jordanian players set to take part in the World Cup. Jamal Sellami’s side will begin their preparations with a friendly against Breel Embolo’s Switzerland, before heading to a training camp in San Diego from 1 to 10 June.
- Switzerland v Jordan, Sunday 31 May: 4-1, Mousa played for an hour and provided an assist.
- Colombia v Jordan, Monday 8 June in San Diego.
In a tough Group J, the Jordanians will face:
- Austria v Jordan, Wednesday 17 June at 06:00
- Jordan v Algeria, Tuesday 23 June at 05:00
- Jordan v Argentina, Sunday 28 June at 04:00
Switzerland will be able to count on Breel Embolo
Having been selected for the Swiss national team, Breel Embolo will follow a similar preparation programme to Mousa. After an initial friendly against Jordan, the Swiss squad will head to their base camp in San Diego from 2 June to complete their pre-tournament training.
- Switzerland v Jordan, Sunday 31 May: 4-1, Breel scored from the penalty spot and was substituted in the 71st minute.
- Switzerland v Australia, Saturday 6 June in San Diego.
In Group B, Switzerland will need to beat Qatar, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Canada to qualify:
- Qatar v Switzerland, Saturday 13 June at 9.00 pm
- Switzerland v Bosnia and Herzegovina, Thursday 18 June at 9.00 pm
- Switzerland v Canada, Wednesday 24 June at 9.00 pm
Alidu Seidu with Ghana
Having been named in the extended squad for the Black Stars, Alidu Seidu has had his place in the World Cup squad confirmed by manager Carlos Queiroz. The Ghanaians are currently in Cardiff for a training camp that will conclude with a friendly against Wales.
- Wales v Ghana, Tuesday 2 June in Cardiff.
Alidu and Ghana will then travel to the United States to face England, Croatia and Panama.
- Ghana v Panama, Thursday 18 June at 01:00
- England v Ghana, Tuesday 23 June at 22:00
- Croatia v Ghana, Saturday 27 June at 23:00
End of the training camp for our young international players
Although Abdelhamid Aït Boudlal and Yassine Zabiri were present at the Atlas Lions’ first training camp, Mohamed Ouahbi unfortunately did not select them for this World Cup. The same fate befell Kilian Belazzoug and Elias Quiñonez, who were not selected for the Algerian and Ecuadorian national teams respectively.
Having come through the ranks at SRFC, they will also be competing in the 2026 World Cup: Ousmane Dembélé and Désiré Doué (France), Guéla Doué (Ivory Coast), Steven Moreira (Cape Verde), Wilson Isidor and Martin Expérience (Haiti), Yan Valery (Tunisia)
Two friendlies for Poland, who failed to qualify for the World Cup
Having failed to qualify for this year’s World Cup, Sebastian Szymański’s Poland will play two friendlies in the coming days:
Poland v Ukraine, on Sunday 31 May in WrocławPoland v Nigeria, on Wednesday 3 June in Warsaw
