The road to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games truly begins now for Thierry Henry.
The coach of the French Olympic team announced his first and last list of the year this Thursday, before the one which will have to be prepared in mid-May for the huge meeting next summer.
To face the Ivory Coast on March 22 in Châteauroux and the United States on March 25 in Sochaux, the 1998 world champion had to design a list while balancing, between the now possibility of drawing from the pool of players born after 2001 (the U23s) while not being able to pick up the youngest already present among the A (Warren Zaire-Emery, Eduardo Camavinga, William Saliba, etc.).
Barcola remains among the hopefuls
Results, Thierry Henry was still able to strengthen all his positions with the return of Lucas Chevalier, who was no longer in the age group, but who has been shining with Lille since the start of the season in the cages.
More experienced players like Adrien Truffert (Rennes), Manu Koné (Mönchengladbach) and Khephren Thuram (Nice) are also joining the group.
Last list of the 𝗦𝗲́𝗹𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗨𝟮𝟯 before that of the Olympic Games 🗒
Thierry Henry's Bleuets will travel to Châteauroux then to Sochaux for 2 preparation matches 👊
🗓 March 22 (6:30 p.m.): 🆚 Ivory Coast 🇨🇮
🗓 March 25 (9:05 p.m.) : 🆚 United States 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/ApPqtwe6yr
— French team ⭐⭐ (@equipedefrance) March 14, 2024
Thierry Henry still shook up his structure, particularly at the forefront.
Rayan Cherki, irregular with Olympique Lyonnais, is no longer there just like Mathys Tel (Bayern).
Once mentioned among the A's, PSG winger Bradley Barcola remains for the moment in Thierry Henry's group.
He is accompanied in front by Kalimuendo, Odobert, Rutter and Wahi.
Read alsoJO Paris 2024: from Chevalier to Mbappé, what could the French Olympic football team look like?
As a reminder, the ex-Arsenal and Blues legend who has already sent around a hundred eligible names to the IOC, must compose a list of 18 players and four reserves by mid-May.
The possibility of having three players over 23 still exists.
Kylian Mbappé, Olivier Giroud and Antoine Griezmann are the three names that come up the most.