AL RAYYAN, Qatar (AP) — Youssouf Fofana has gone from serving pizza to handing out crosses at the World Cup..
Abandoned in 2015 at the age of 14 from Clairefontaine, France’s national training center, his future in football seemed to have come to an end. So he went to work at a pizzeria.
“That was the best way to earn money and also to follow my dreams,” the 23-year-old midfielder said on Thursday, two days before France take on England in the World Cup quarter-final.
Fofana made his French national team debut in September and was selected by manager Didier Deschamps for Les Bleus’ 26-man World Cup title-defending squad.
He came on as a second-half substitute in group stage wins over Australia and Denmark, started in a 1-0 loss to Tunisia and played the last 25 minutes of the round of 16 win over Poland.
Quite a turnaround for a player who needed two years to find a professional club. He played for Drancy, an amateur team in the northeastern suburbs of Paris before signing with the Strasbourg youth academy in 2017.
“I had my doubts, and you have to know how to move forward,” he said through an interpreter.
He made his Ligue 1 debut against Lyon on August 24, 2018, moving to Monaco in January 2020 and reaching the Europa League with his new club in 2021-22 and the current season.
France, seeking their third World Cup title, would advance to a semi-final against either Portugal or Morocco. The other side of the group will have the winner of Argentina-Netherlands playing either Brazil or Croatia.
Les Blues are led by Kylian Mbappé, who leads the World Cup with five goals. England right-back Kyle Walker faced Mbappé and Paris Saint-Germain while playing for Manchester City in the Champions League and said on Wednesday that “we respect that he is a good player in good shape at the moment, but I’m not going to throw it.” a red carpet for him and tell him to go and score.”
Fofana seemed amused by that.
“Kudos to him.” Fofana said. “If he can stop Kylian, good for him. But there are 19 other teams in the French league that are waiting for the answer on how to stop Kylian, and the truth is on the pitch.”
Fofana was in a jovial mood when talking about the preparations. When she was asked about the mood in the locker room before the World Cup kicked off, she replied: “The atmosphere is tense, tense, tense.”
“No, I’m kidding,” he continued. “We can use headphones, so if we don’t like the music chosen for the group, then we can listen to our own music.”
CLASS OF ’98
Defender Dayot Upamecano said he spoke with Marcel Desailly, a defender for France’s 1998 world champion team.
“He has given me some advice and I have to keep doing what I’m doing,” Upamecano said through an interpreter. “It’s a real pleasure to be able to talk to someone like that. He was a winner. He was a warrior, a true example for the French.
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