Zidane's first game as France boss ends in worry

A winner, then a wince

Mbappé settled a scrappy, hard-fought Nations League opener in Turkey's favour for France, breaking the deadlock in a game Foot Mercato's reporting describes as painful to watch at times. The France perspective has it as 1-0, Turkey's as 0-1, same scoreline, same result: a first win for Zidane as national team manager. It ended what Foot Mercato called an incroyable losing sequence for France, giving the new era the cleanest possible start on paper.

The trouble is what happened to the goalscorer. Mbappé picked up an injury during the match, and while the exact nature of it hasn't been detailed, defender Maxence Lacroix's comments afterwards were described, per Foot Mercato, as très inquiétants, very concerning. Jules Koundé also made remarks about Dembélé and Mbappé that Foot Mercato flagged as troublante, without spelling out exactly what he meant. Two senior France players, two vague but uneasy statements, on the same night their goalscorer went off with a knock. Zidane will hope it's nothing more than caution. Every account of this evening so far traces back to Foot Mercato, so treat the injury detail as developing rather than confirmed.

Late for the anthem, early into the job

Zidane's first act as France boss wasn't tactical, it was logistical: he arrived late for La Marseillaise before kick-off, a detail small enough to be a footnote anywhere else and just big enough to make headlines on his debut. It didn't cost him. Whatever he said in the dressing room beforehand seems to have landed, with Ousmane Dembélé revealing what Zidane had specifically asked of the squad and Adrien Rabiot describing wholesale changes already under the new regime, according to Foot Mercato.

The dressing room is already on side

Foot Mercato reports the France squad is already won over by Zidane, days into the job, though it's the only outlet with reporters inside that room so far. Rayan Cherki appears to be a particular favourite, with Zidane reportedly convinced by what he's seen from the Manchester City forward so far. That kind of early buy-in matters for a manager stepping into a squad that had been losing before he arrived: a group that believes in the plan is a different animal to one going through the motions.

The bits that got lost

Amid the Mbappé worry, a smaller oddity: there was no goal-line technology available for Turkey against France, a detail that becomes more interesting the closer that scoreline gets to being level. It wasn't decisive here, but it's the sort of thing that turns into a bigger story the moment a marginal call actually needs it.

Zidane leaves Izmit with a win, a goalscorer's fitness to monitor, and a dressing room that sounds genuinely energised, all according to Foot Mercato's account of the night. Whether the Mbappé injury is a blip or a problem will shape how much of that early goodwill survives the international break.