French envoy to Erbil speaks about the World Cup finale

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The French Consul General in Erbil Dominique Mas spoke about the upcoming attendance of President Emanuel Macron at the World Cup finale in a live interview with Kurdistan 24.

“It is very important that the president is attending the game and the players very much appreciate this,” Mas said on Friday, explaining that, since Macron is the nation's leader, “it means that all the people of France are supporting the team.”

The match will be against the Croatian national team, which just knocked England out of top ranking, and will take place in Moscow's Luzhniki Stadium at 6:00 pm local time on Sunday.

Mas continued, “Tomorrow is Bastille Day. There will be massive celebrations, and afterward, the president will start his trip to Russia to support the team of France."

“Even though the French people have their differences in other times, when it comes to the games, and the finale especially, they are all united in their support for their team."

France was just victorious in a semifinal match against Belgium, a team now set to face off against England on Saturday to determine who takes third place in the tournament.

When asked about whether French player Antoine Griezmann or Kylian Mbappe, both of whom scored three goals, would be the one to succeed the legendary Zinedine Zidane, Mas admitted his lack of knowledge of specifics of each players’ role in the games.

The diplomat did, however, contrasted past teams with the current French players, which he viewed as having an excellent level of sportsmanship and a united spirit, as if “all eleven of them are a single player," when assembled at the stadium.

“What we see this year is new.”

Editing by John J. Catherine