Spain’s 2-0 win over France in Tuesday’s World Cup semi-final has ended the tournament for five Paris Saint-Germain internationals and started the countdown to their return for pre-season training in Paris.
According to FIFA’s official match report, Mikel Oyarzabal’s first-half penalty and a Pedro Porro strike in the 58th minute sent Didier Deschamps’ side out at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, ending PSG’s outsized presence at this World Cup semi-final and denying Ousmane Dembele, Desire Doue, Bradley Barcola, Warren Zaire-Emery and Lucas Hernandez a shot at the final. The result leaves Luis Enrique with a clearer picture of when his most decorated attacking options will walk back through the doors at the PSG Campus.
Luis Enrique Faces A Staggered Pre-Season Without His World Cup Five
PSG’s official pre-season report date is set for Saturday, July 25, with some players able to return as early as July 20, according to RMC Sport. Crucially, the club’s 16 World Cup representatives, spread across nine nations, are each entitled to four weeks of rest counted from the date their country is eliminated, a policy Luis Campos and Luis Enrique settled on before the tournament began.
For Dembele, Doue, Barcola, Zaire-Emery and Hernandez, that clock now starts ticking from Tuesday’s exit, not any third-place play-off France could still contest in Miami. The timing means PSG’s five could be back in training in the second week of August, later than the rest of the squad but in line with what the coaching staff, who watched several of their own find rhythm at the tournament, had already planned for.
PSG open their season with the UEFA Super Cup against Aston Villa on August 12 and the Trophee des Champions against Lens four days later, fixtures Luis Enrique may have to approach without his five World Cup men at full sharpness.
