Ivory Coast beats France in World Cup warning to one of the favourites

Ivory Coast defeats France 2-1 in friendly ahead of the 2026 World Cup, as Manchester United’s Amad Diallo seals win.France has brushed aside ‌concerns over their World Cup readiness after suffering a surprise 2-1 defeat by Ivory Coast in a ⁠tournament warm-up match, insisting the setback will serve as a useful reminder rather than a cause for alarm.Didier Deschamps’s side ⁠led through a superb first-half goal from Rayan Cherki on Thursday, but they were overrun after the break as Guela Doue and Amad Diallo turned the game around for the ⁠Elephants in Nantes.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemslist 1 of 4Russia’s Andreeva beats Ukraine’s Kostyuk in no-handshake French Open semilist 2 of 4Sabalenka ‘mentally off track’ as French Open exit made her want to ‘quit’list 3 of 4Ukraine’s Kostyuk blasts Russia stars in French Open outburst over warlist 4 of 4‘Dreams come true’: Tennis stars relish Serena Williams’s on-court comebackend of listWith France opening their World Cup campaign against Senegal in New York on June 16, midfielder Aurelien Tchouameni said the result should be viewed in the context of preparations.“It’s a pity to lose, but we’re in a ‌preparation phase; we stay confident,” Tchouameni said.“There is no conclusion to draw from this game, even if we had won it. We will be ready.”France fielded an experimental side, with several Paris Saint-Germain players rested after last weekend’s Champions League final triumph, and made numerous changes after halftime.Defender Lucas Hernandez also played down the significance of the defeat.“We always want to win, but we’re in ⁠a phase of preparation, and there were a lot of ⁠substitutions,” Hernandez said.“We’re in good spirits.”Deschamps, however, admitted that his side had lost control of the contest after an encouraging opening 45 minutes and warned that France would face opponents with similar qualities to Ivory Coast in the ⁠United States.“A defeat is never pleasant, even if we did some good things in the first half,” Deschamps said.