France Team Hit By Virus Outbreak Before 2022 World Cup Final Versus Argentina

France’s preparations for their 2022 World Cup Final against Argentina have gotten a bit messy. That’s messy as in complicated and not Messi as in Argentina’s star football player Lionel Messi. A virus outbreak and accompanying flu-like symptoms have hit members of France’s football team as they prepare for Sunday’s championship match in Qatar. As a result, Kingsley Coman, Ibrahima Konaté and Raphaël Varane have been social distancing themselves away from their France teammates. If Konaté and Varane are unable to recover in time, France would be missing two of their three main center-backs. This could make it more difficult for France to keep the finals from becoming too Messi.

This might be some sacré bleu news for Les Bleus, which has been the nickname for France’s national football team. France is seeking to become only the third country in the history of the World Cup to win back-to-back championships. The tournament has occurred every four years since 1930, pausing only in 1942 and 1946 for that little thing called World War II. Italy captured the Cup in 1934 and then again the next time it was played in 1938. Brazil successfully defended their 1958 championship with a repeat championship four years later in 1962. And France now want to put their foot in what has been only a two-country ball.

Les Bleus entered Qatar as the defending World Cup champions, having won the whole baguette when it was last played in 2018 with a 4-2 finals victory over Croatia in Russia. A win tomorrow would give them their third overall World Cup title. This would put Les Bleus solely in fourth place for most World Cup championships ever behind Brazil, Germany, and Italy and over Argentina and Uraguay, who have won two World Cup titles each. But there’s a little opponent potentially in France’s way. A very, very little one. Like a really, really, very tiny little one. Meaning a virus.

Yeah, the 2022 World Cup has gone a bit viral, but not in a good way. Viral outbreaks have continued to be opponents through much of the 2022 World Cup. As I covered for Forbes on December 3, a flu outbreak hit the Netherlands team prior to their round-of-16 triumph over the U.S. And illnesses kept Coman, Dayot Upamecano and Adrien Rabiot out of France’s 2-0 semifinal victory over Morocco. It’s not yet clear what specific virus is affecting the French team now. As you may have heard, tis the season for respiratory viruses. The Covid-19 coronavirus, the influenza virus, and the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) have been surging in the U.S. and other parts of the world. But these certainly aren’t the only respiratory viruses circulating. Respiratory viruses can be a bit like a box of chocolates. A really nasty box of chocolates. You never know which one you may get, especially when you don’t take precautions in the late Fall and Winter. It probably hasn’t helped that players have spent a fair amount of time indoors in air conditioned rooms in order to beat the heat in Qatar.

The outbreak has left an already depleted French squad even more depleted. Prior to the start of the tournament, injuries left N’Golo Kanté, Christopher Nkunku, Paul Pogba and Karim Benzema unavailable for the World Cup. All of this may leave France’s Team Manager Didier Deschamps with much fewer options when they face Argentina, which rolled 3-0 over Croatia in the semifinals. Naturally, when you ask a coach, “Would you rather fewer or more options,” he or she is probably going to choose the latter.

Fortunately, there is no indication that any of France’s players are severely ill. Jacob Steinberg writing for The Guardian quoted France’s forward Ousmane Dembélé as saying, “We’re not scared of that virus, Dayot and Adrien had a headache, a bit of a stomach ache.” He added, “I made them a ginger and honey tea, and then they felt better. I hope everyone will be ready for the final.” It’s kind of nice when you have teammate who will make you ginger and honey tea. It’s certainly better than a teammate who will give you a knuckle sandwich. Of note, though, while tea may help you feel better by easing some of the symptoms, it’s not a formal treatment for any of the illnesses that may be caused by respiratory viruses. Antivirals such as Paxlovid for Covid-19 and Tamiflu or Relenza for the flu may help with certain viral illnesses when taken early enough. Of course, it’s best to prevent viral illnesses from happening in the first place by taking proper non-pharmaceutical precautions and getting vaccinated against Covid-19 and the flu.

All of this shows how viruses can throw a monkey wrench into nearly anything. Not literally but figurately as viruses don’t have hands and thus cannot grip a monkey wrench. Therefore, unless you enjoy things like coughing, fatigue, stomach aches, diarrhea, and possibly worse, it is important to maintain proper precautions when you know that respiratory virus activity may be high around you. Precautions should include frequently and thoroughly washing your hands, making sure you lather your hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds, which again is how long it takes to get through the first chorus of the Divinyls song “I Touch Myself.” You should also keep high touch surfaces such as your life-size statue of Messi regularly disinfected. Maintaining good indoor air filtration and purification can be helpful too. And as long as the pandemic is still going on, wearing face masks while indoors can really cut down severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) transmission.

The much anticipated World Cup finals will feature a battle between Messi, who over the past decade has been a dominant force in football, and his heir apparent France’s forward Kylian Mbappe. They certainly won’t be the only players on the pitch as both sides feature formidable line-ups of players. It’s always unclear which specific players will ultimately make the difference between winning and losing in the finals. The hope is that it ends up being human players and not viral ones.