FIFA World Cup 2018
RABIOT REJECTS DESCHAMPS THROUGH E-MAIL
Midfielder Adrien Rabiot has written to France manager Didier Deschamps saying he is not prepared to be a World Cup standby player.
The 23-year-old Paris Saint-Germain player sent an email to Deschamps saying he would not "be able to follow the training programme" sent to the 11 standbys.
A source who had seen the message said on Wednesday it was short but filled with phrases that read as if they had been written by a lawyer.
French sports daily L'Equipe wrote that Rabiot "had decided to act himself without necessarily listening to the advice of those around him".
Another newspaper, Le Parisien, suggested that it was "a thoughtful decision" that the French coaching staff "would have tried to change".
When he announced the squad last Thursday, Deschamps said: "Adrien's performances for the French team are not at all at the same level as with the PSG."
Rabiot, who has six France caps, was not included in the 23-man squad for the World Cup but placed on standby in case one of the first-choice players was hurt before the final deadline for submitting the squad on June 4.
POGBA ON PILGRIMAGE
French midfielder Paul Pogba has posted a video of himself at the holiest site of Islam in Saudi Arabia, as he prepares to join his French squad for the World Cup next month.
"Only the person that comes here can understand the feeling," the 25-year-old Manchester United star said in an Instagram video from the holy city of Mecca.
"This a beautiful place -- beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. And the feeling... I cannot even explain to you."
The Frenchman posted the video of himself standing in front of the Kaaba, a black cube towards which Muslims turn for their five daily prayers.
Pogba, who will be a key member of France's World Cup team in Moscow, made a similar pilgrimage last year during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
He told the BBC last week that he and his France teammates must approach the World Cup finals with the right mindset, as that counts more than technical ability.