Son équipe de Madagascar avait été l’une des sensations de la CAN 2019 en Égypte en atteignant les quarts de finale dès leur première participation. - L'info en continu https://buzzplus.fr/ Infos, news & actualités - L'information internationale en direct.
00:00 His team from Madagascar had been one of the sensations of the CANON 2019 in Egypt by reaching the quarterfinals from their first participation.
00:07 The French national team player Nicolas Dupuis hopes to reiterate his success with South Sudan, the current 166th in the FIFA ranking,
00:15 while the preliminary round of the CANON 2025 of the young country begins on Friday, March 22 against Sao Tome and Principe.
00:21 Interview.
00:23 He knows the recipe and hopes to reproduce it successfully.
00:27 Nicolas Dupuis, 56, was appointed to the head of the national team of South Sudan in October 2023
00:33 and is preparing to play the qualifying preliminary round for the CANON 2025 against Sao Tome and Principe.
00:39 Going very far does not scare the French selector.
00:42 Between 2016 and 2023, he took over the reins of the team from Madagascar.
00:47 During the 2019 edition of the Africa Cup, his Baréas, the first notes of the editorial, also dispute the qualifying preliminary round.
00:57 This did not prevent the first-timers from qualifying for the first CANON in their history, ending first in their group and even qualifying for the quarterfinals.
01:04 An adventure that ended in a fish line when Madagascar missed the qualification for the CANON 2023 due to a defeat against the modest Central Africa.
01:13 If the Madar still has a special place in his heart, Nicolas Dupuis is now fully invested in his new challenge,
01:20 to make South Sudan progress and why not cook a new surprise for the head of the CANON 2025 in Morocco.
01:26 France 24, how did you become a South Sudan selector?
01:31 Nicolas Dupuis, I waited for the end of my contract with Madagascar to sign elsewhere.
01:36 The South Sudan, two other countries, contacted me between August and September.
01:41 They called me at night, once, twice.
01:44 They seemed very interested and they made me come to visit the facilities.
01:50 I was very well received in Juba, I thought there was the same potential here as in Madagascar,
01:55 with the possibility of leaving a sheet almost blank to try to write it and make the selection progress.
02:00 It is an Anglophone country so it is also a personal challenge for me after having exercised only in French-speaking countries.
02:06 What development axes do you see?
02:09 We start from the same starting point.
02:11 When I arrived in Madagascar 7 years ago, there was almost everything to do.
02:17 There was a catastrophic synthetic field in Majinga, Madagascar, note from the editorial.
02:22 Here, in Juba, it's the same.
02:25 There is only a synthetic field that is not even up to standard but a stadium has just been created.
02:30 The local championship is not yet professional but has potential.
02:34 And there are people who love football and who live football.
02:37 I have a 3-year contract.
02:40 The ambition is to work these 3 years to try to make all this progress.
02:45 We will try to improve our FIFA ranking.
02:47 There, we have to do a preliminary round because our ranking is just catastrophic.
02:53 It's a funny wink.
02:55 At the CAN2019, the epic with Mada had started with a preliminary round against Sao Tome in 2018.
03:02 I would like this preliminary round to start on the same bases.
03:06 The level is similar between the two teams and it will be played with very little.
03:11 For me, they have a little more experience.
03:14 So I would take a qualification by struggling a bit like in 2019.
03:18 You played two games for the moment at the Bright Star's command.
03:22 A defeat against Senegal and a draw against Mauritania.
03:25 What do you think about these first matches?
03:28 For the first match, to be very honest, I didn't know the players.
03:33 I had arrived two days before, they too.
03:36 We had two training sessions before playing.
03:40 I was unable to really know who could play in such a place, at such a post.
03:44 It was a discovery and it was against Senegal in Senegal,
03:48 so which frankly did not make things easy.
03:51 At the end, 4-0, but we existed a little bit in the second half by limiting the damage and we could have even scored.
03:57 For the second match against Mauritania, it was a little better.
04:01 We had had three days of training and I had already felt better.
04:06 We were 0-0 and we could have almost won on a penalty at the end of the match.
04:10 After, Mauritania, it's not Senegal.
04:14 Today, I know the players much better.
04:17 Those who evolve in the local championship, I train them at least 15 times a month.
04:22 Those who are expatriates, I don't know them yet.
04:26 They arrived that night, the interview was held on Tuesday, March 19, NLDR.
04:32 There is a player who comes from South Korea, another from Belarus, one from Norway and three from Australia.
04:37 It is also planned that we will go to a training camp there in Bakar, about 50 players from South Sudan play there.
04:43 I could have a lot more expats.
04:46 Many try to contact us to come.
04:49 But we have to see them, discover them and above all, leave room for the locals.
04:53 If we want to have results, we need the most competitive team possible.
04:58 But above all, we have to fight on the field.
05:01 There are technical qualities, but we don't yet have what it takes to beat big teams or on a stroke of luck.
05:07 So we have to work, we especially have to be warriors on the field.
05:12 What are your goals for the CAN2025 and the next step?
05:16 Before talking about goals for the CAN2025, we have to manage to qualify and win against Sao Tome.
05:23 We have no other goal than to progress over the next three years.
05:27 We have national teams like the U20 team which is very good.
05:30 We have very young players.
05:32 We must never forget that South Sudan is a very young country.
05:36 I have more ambition for our team on the field, the African Nations Championship, than for our CAN team or the World Cup.
05:43 I wouldn't be surprised if we performed there.
05:46 After that, we still need a little luck in the draw because the field qualifiers are regional.
05:52 We must avoid falling on Ethiopia and pass the two preliminary rounds.
05:57 For the moment, South Sudan does not have a homologated stadium to play in Juba.
06:01 Is this a disadvantage?
06:03 Obviously it is a handicap.
06:05 FIFA came last week.
06:08 We hope to qualify and play in June against South Sudan and Togo at home.
06:13 It would be an advantage to be able to play in Juba.
06:16 It is a nice little stadium with 11,000 seats and it would help us because South Sudanese are very football-minded.
