France Can Adapt To Any Scenario: Lloris

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Captain Hugo Lloris feels the ability to adapt to any scenario is France’s strength as they prepare to take on Argentina in the final of the World Cup and emerge as the first team to win back-to-back trophies in 60 years.

“You have to be willing to suffer at times. You have to make the most of the good situations, too,” said Lloris, 35, who is also his team’s goalkeeper.

“Tomorrow [today] there will be a game plan to respect. We are still studying this team and preparing for this big game. There are always things we are not prepared for.

“To face that, we need a perfect mindset, to be ready to go above and beyond. We know that we are capable of playing with possession and on the counter-attack. We have a lot of fast players offensively. The strength of our team is that we can adapt to any type of scenario.”

Leading up to the decisive clash against Lionel Messi’s Argentina several French players were under the weather but Tottenham Hotspur’s shot-stopper Lloris who is his country’s most capped player with 144 appearances, said nothing will take away the excitement of playing a World Cup final.

“And regarding the virus, we’re never prepared for that kind of thing, but we’re trying to get ready as best as we can,” he said.

“It’s something we weren’t really prepared for, but it doesn’t take away from the concentration, the excitement we are feeling, the day before a World Cup final.”

A victory at Lusail Stadium today will make Lloris the first captain to lift the World Cup trophy for the second successive time after captaining his team to victory in Russia 2018 but he refused to live in the past.

France’s Hugo Lloris during a press conference on the eve of the World Cup final clash against Argentina. REUTERS

“I’ve had the privilege and pride to have won this trophy with my teammates in 2018, but to be honest with you, today I’m focused on the present, what happened in the past belongs in the past,” he said.

“We want to create our own history and we want to finish in the best way we can. So the hardest part is still to be done, it’s the last game, and we need to be prepared for a big game.

“We have to be ready to surpass ourselves, to make the effort despite the circumstances with the virus, despite the fatigue. We must finish the job.”

Lloris has just become the most-capped goal keeper in World Cup history, equalling the record of Germany’s Manuel Neuer of 19 matches.

Veteran goalkeeper said although the pre-final hype has been all about Argentina’s star player Messi who is playing his final World Cup match his team is nor solely focusing on Messi.

“We know what Leo Messi represents in the history of our sport but I think that it’s more about the match between France and Argentina because we’re coming up against some very good footballers, they have a great team spirit they’re real competitors, and this means everything to them. It’s a huge game,” he said.

“The event is too important to focus on one player. It’s a final between two great nations,” he said.

“When you face this kind of player (Messi), you have to pay attention to him, but this game is not just about him.

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“Throughout Argentina’s history, there have always been great players who act as symbols, Maradona, for example, and today Leo Messi, who are part of the icons in our sport. There will be a lot of expectations regarding this final on the Argentinean side.

“I believe when you are French, playing a World Cup final, regardless of the opposition, is always a big event, but to be facing Argentina at this point in the competition makes it even bigger. We hope this game will remain in the records of French football.”

In the stands at Lusail Stadium today the French supporters will be heavily outnumbered by the Argentinean fans with up to 40,000 of them expected in Doha for the occasion, while French fans are set to number around 6,000.

Lloris however said his team won’t pay much attention to the lack of support at the stadium.

“Well we have the support of the fans; we know the whole country is behind us, the rest don’t really matter to us. We started the competition with a mission, to go as far as possible,” he said.

“Very few people believed in our task but we’ve reached the final four years later and we’re going to do everything and give everything that we can in order to come out as winners of this final battle.”

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