Up to that point, everything was going perfectly well. Didier Deschamps had welcomed 23 very happy France players to camp on Saturday ahead of four UEFA Nations League games over the next two weeks. There was Kylian Mbappe, who recently shocked the soccer world by extending his stay at Paris Saint-Germain. There was Antoine Griezmann, so relieved to be reunited with his countrymen again and to get a breath of fresh air after weeks of difficulty at Atletico Madrid toward the end of the 2021-22 season.
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There was Boubacar Kamara, the young midfielder who just completed a move from Marseille to Aston Villa and is celebrating his first-ever national team call-up.