November 14, 2022
The brief from today:
Kimpembe backs out of France squad
France coach, Didier Deschamps, announced his 26-man World Cup squad last week, and amongst those who had just managed to return from injury was Presnel Kimpembe. The PSG defender had been out of action with a hamstring injury for almost two months before recently recovering. Rather than rush his reentry into playing two weeks ago, he took the conservative approach and sat out PSG’s last Champions League match against Juventus, and did the same that weekend for the Ligue 1 game against Lorient. This past weekend, however, he made a 15 minute appearance towards the end of his club side’s league contest versus Auxerre. Following his cameo, the post match questions from the press focused on how he was feeling, and he assured everyone that he emerged from the match unscathed. Today, however, as the France team was reporting to their Clairefontaine base, Kimpembe ruled himself out of the World Cup squad. Typically these judgment calls are made by the coaching staff prior to finalizing their selected players, but on this occasion the 27-year-old simply admitted that he “does not consider himself sufficiently recovered” to perform at the level needed for such a massive tournament. In his place, Deschamps has now called up Monaco defender, Axel Disasi, who has zero appearances at senior level for France. This latest development marks the third influential player—along with Pogba and Kante—that was present at the victorious 2018 World Cup in Russia who France will now be without.
Kimpembe won’t have the chance to potentially lift the World Cup trophy again this year
River Plate replace one former player with another
Buenos Aires based side, River Plate, have had their former player, Marcelo Gallardo, coaching the team since 2016, and under him they have enjoyed historic success. Gallardo managed to secure two Copa Libertadores victories in 2015 and 2018, and also added a Primera Division title in 2021. With his contract set to expire in December, the former midfielder announced he would be leaving River last week, and many wondered who the club would appoint to fill the void. Today that decision was announced, and once again it is another former River player who will manage the first team. Martin Demichelis played for River’s youth team from 1998-2000 before graduating to the first team for the next three years. He would then move on to Bayern Munich in Germany, where he spent the majority of his playing career, from 2003-2010. After spells in Spain and England, the former Argentina international defender decided to try his hand at coaching following his retirement in 2017. His first post was the assistant coach role for his last club as a player, Malaga. Following one season there, he returned to another former club—Bayern Munich—for his next experience, where he would coach the U19 team from 2019-2021, which was followed by a promotion to the Bayern II side from 2021 until this year. He will now test his abilities in Argentina, and it will be a major test indeed to take the helm at River Plate for his first full senior coaching role. Gallardo has set a high standard at the club, and it will be up to Demichelis to maintain those levels, or perhaps even exceed them. Only time will tell what the result will be.
Martin Demichelis has been appointed as River Plate’s new coach