The worst was feared since Sunday and these images of Siraba Dembélé holding his right leg, unable to leave the field where his club, CSM Bucharest, faced CSKA Moscow in C1. The worst was confirmed this Tuesday: the captain of the France team (34 years, 291 international matches) suffers a total rupture of the right Achilles tendon.
It will be operated on this Wednesday, but its absence can be counted in months, so Dembélé will not compete in the Olympic Games this summer with Azul (July 23 – August 8).
“It’s hard to swallow”
“It was going to be my last competition with the France team, it’s hard to swallow, explains “Sira” in the federation press release. I also miss one of the most important moments with Les Bleues. We are in a great dynamic together and we had something to accomplish together this summer. […] It’s hard not to finish this cycle with them. You have to accept it, it is part of the game, they have saved me throughout my career, I have been lucky. You have to look for the positive in everything. “
“Obviously, it’s a blow for the France team, we lost one of the best players and the captain.”For his part, the coach Olivier Krumbholz reacted, who knows something about it: during the last absence of Siraba Dembélé (due to maternity), the France team had been placed like never before, eliminated in the preliminary round of the 2019 World Cup.
Your leadership will be deeply missed
A starter, the left winger does not contribute as much to the game as in his best years (1.8 goals on average with an 88% success rate in the December Eurocup). Outside, on the other hand, she is “The ambitious leader of this team”, Krumbholz confided in December, the one that stabilizes everything, that breaks down tensions (between the players or with the squad), that calms down. It will leave an immense void in this area that cannot be filled by a single player (goalkeeper Amandine Leynaud had assumed the captaincy in his absence in Japan).
Sportingly, the competition is dense in the left wing position. The impeccable number 2, Chloé Valentini (Besançon) has an advantage, the other place is disputed between Coralie Lassource (Brest) and Manon Houette (Metz), who returns this week to the French team for the preparation field.
Dembélé, she, “Plan to finish well [sa] quarry on land “, she says. She has a one-year contract with CSM Bucharest, until June 2022. But we shouldn’t see her again with the France team shirt.
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