France World Cup camp rocked as two more struck down with illness

France duo Raphael Varane and Ibrahima Konate have become the latest players to fall ill from a virus ahead of this weekend’s historic World Cup final meeting with Argentina. A sickness bug has swept through the French ranks over the last few days, with Dayot Upamecano, Kingsley Coman and Adrien Rabiot missing the semi-final victory over Morocco as a result of the illness spreading throughout the group.

The total number of cases has now risen to five, with just over 48 hours until France do battle with Argentina as they look to become the first team to secure back-to-back World Cup titles since Brazil in 1958 and 1962. Konate is understood to be suffering to a greater degree than Varane as things stand and it remains to be seen whether either player will be able to recover in time for Sunday’s match at Lusail Stadium.

Social distancing measures have been introduced in the French camp in an attempt to slow the spread of the virus, while there have even been unfounded suggestions that it was picked up during their quarter-final victory over England last weekend. However, the virus is more likely to have been contracted as a result of the air conditioning systems used in stadiums, which were previously blamed for giving several Brazil players a nasty cough earlier in the tournament.

Every member of the France squad has since been isolated and prevented from mixing with team-mates outside of training, although there are fears that additional players could fall ill before kick-off against Argentina on Sunday. Stricter measures to control the illness have also been imposed at the team hotel, with greater levels of sanitation in place and workers being ordered to wear masks.

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“In Doha, temperatures have fallen a little bit, you have air conditioning which is on all the time,” said France manager Didier Deschamps earlier this week. “We’ve had a few cases of flu-like symptoms. We are trying to be careful so it doesn’t spread and players have made great efforts out on the pitch and obviously their immune systems suffer.

“Dayot Upamecano felt sick immediately after the match [against England]. It happens when you make such an effort, your body is weakened and you are more prone to be infected by these viruses.

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“We are taking all necessary precautions, we are trying to make sure it doesn’t spread but viruses are of course infectious and we have to take precautions against it. We separated him from others and Adrien as well.”

Meanwhile, Brazil winger Antony recently insisted that stadium air conditioning was to blame for causing his own bout of illness during the World Cup, with the systems in place across the vast majority of venues in order to ease the soaring temperatures in Qatar for both players and fans.

“It was more of a sickness, throat, it was the air conditioning,” said Antony. “Not only me, but other players also had a cough and a bad throat. It’s very difficult for me to get sick, but I’m happy to be an important part of the team.”

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