France ‘remaining calm and focused’ despite illness outbreak ahead of final, says manager Didier Deschamps

France manager Didier Deschamps said in the press conference on the eve of their final against Argentina that despite multiple players falling ill ahead of the summit clash, the team remains ‘calm and focused’.
“I’m absolutely fine,” Deschamps said. “As for the players, I left quite early this morning, they were all still asleep so I have no recent updates. We are trying to manage the situation as well as we can, remaining calm and focused. I’ll get more information today and think about it today and maybe even tomorrow.”
He further added, “I don’t want to go into details. I know it’s a subject that’s of interest to you and I fully understand that but we are doing our best to take precautions and adapt as necessary. We are trying to live with it without going too far, getting too carried away, just doing what’s necessary. We’d have preferred not to face this difficulty but we are facing it as best we can with our medical staff.”
Subscriber Only StoriesPremiumPremiumPremiumPremium
France goalkeeper and captain Hugo Lloris also weighed in his thought on the same.
“I have not got any more news since last night because everyone was still in their rooms when I got up, I haven’t seen anyone,” he said. “I’m sure you’ll get more info the next training session. We never really prepared for this type of thing, but we will try to get ready for the match the best we can. These are things we weren’t prepared for but we remain focused, and of course we are very excited about playing in a World Cup final.”

The defending champions had missed out on Adrien Rabiot and Dayot Upamecano for their semifinal against Morocco on Wednesday after the duo contracted sickness bug that has hit the city of Doha.
Furthermore, the French Football Federation confirmed on Friday that defensive pair Raphael Varane and Ibrahima Konate had missed training through illness.