Tokyo Olympics: Noël Le Graët considers the elimination of the Blues from football "inevitable" and confirms Sylvain Ripoll

There it's finished.

By falling heavily against Japan (0-4) this Wednesday in Yokohama, the Blues of Sylvain Ripoll took the door from the group stage.

An early elimination deemed "inevitable" by the president of the French Federation Noël Le Graët who, for Le Parisien, agreed to react just after the final whistle.

Can we imagine your disappointment after this elimination?

CHRISTMAS LE GRAËT.

Unfortunately it was inevitable.

We could not have the hope team.

Hats off to the players, they gave their best but they weren't prepared.

Despite the difficulties in putting together the list, I preferred to send a team rather than forfeit but we had no hopes.

The scores are heavy, we take a lot of goals.

I repeat, but it was inevitable ... Some players learned of their selection the day before the start.

These are things that I will see with Mr. Infantino (the president of Fifa,

editor's note

) when he comes to Paris at the end of the month.

It is imperative that the Olympics are Fifa dates.

Especially since in three years, France will organize the Games ...

Yes, as I tell you, I will intervene as quickly as possible so that Fifa takes a global decision, not just a French one.

It would make sense for the Olympic team to be able to rely on the selected players.

Today this is not the case, the clubs have the possibility to say no.

I am in favor of it being only under 20s, for the most part, but we have to coordinate the calendars, that Fifa imposes the dates.

The #Olympic Games stop there for our Blues who bow to Japan 🇯🇵 #FRAJAP pic.twitter.com/5MGvDGvk7X

- French team ⭐⭐ (@equipedefrance) July 28, 2021

Sylvain Ripoll suffered directly from this.

Do you have a thought for him?

It is certain that he did not have it easy.

Going for a course of two or three days, playing friendlies and then getting into the bath with a last-minute team… It was lost in advance.

I will meet him amicably on his return, but the priority is Fifa.

Will he still be at the head of the France hopes team?

Of course there is no problem.

If we won all our games, all the time, it would be too easy.

Sometimes we win, sometimes we lose.

We had not been qualified for the Games since 1996, unfortunately it was not possible for us to go further.

History will remember the return to blue of André-Pierre Gignac.

What did you think of it?

I thank him, he plays in Mexico and convinced his friend Florian Thauvin to accompany him. Like the others, he gave the best, and on arrival he finished among the top scorers in this group (with four goals,

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).