Thierry Henry Surprises France Team After World Cup Quarterfinal Win

FIFA World Cup 2026: Thierry Henry visits France's locker room, applauds Les Bleus after quarter-final win over Morocco

Boston, July 10

In a video posted on X by the French men's football team, Thierry Henry visits the Les Bleus' locker room and meets with the players. He hugs captain Kylian Mbappe and greets Ousmane Dembele and Bradley Barcola, among others.

"Thierry Henry paid a little surprise visit to the Bleus in the locker room," the French men's football team captioned the video post.

Henry praised France's performance, highlighting their ability to win back possession, maintain pressure in the opponent's half and dominate both with and without the ball.

"In possession, extraordinary as usual. But what impresses me most is the capacity the team has to recover the ball. What the team does out of possession is extraordinary. We already know what the team can do in possession, but it's this capacity to be able to keep the ball in the opponent's half and continue to suffocate the team," he said.

Henry also congratulated coach Didier Deschamps, the French team and their supporters, saying, "Well done Dede (Didier Deschamps), well done to the team. The supporters too because I was watching on TV and seeing this enthusiasm was really extraordinary. So there you go, long may it last."

Henry said France's achievement was impressive but stressed that the job was not finished, highlighting the need to progress beyond the semi-finals.

"But hey, we're only in the semi-final. So it's not finished. There. It's beautiful, mind you, but we're only in the semi-final, it's about going further," he said.

In the quarter-final clash against Morocco, Mbappe continued his outstanding FIFA World Cup 2026 campaign by opening the scoring in the 60th minute. Dembele later extended France's lead, sealing a 2-0 win and booking Les Bleus' place in the semi-finals.

Notably, Mbappe also became the youngest player to reach 20 FIFA World Cup appearances and the fastest to score 20 goals in the tournament's history. The milestone further highlighted his remarkable World Cup record, with the France captain taking his overall tally to 20 goals across the 2018, 2022, and 2026 editions, leaving him just one goal behind Lionel Messi's all-time World Cup scoring record of 21.

This was Mbappe's eighth goal of the ongoing edition. Mbappe's eighth goal of the 2026 World Cup also saw him join Argentina's Messi at the top of the Golden Boot race.

Mbappe has scored the winning goal in eight FIFA World Cup matches, now the outright most of any player in history, as per OptaJoe.

Mbappe also became the first player in France's history to be directly involved in 100 international goals, achieving the milestone with 64 goals and 36 assists for Les Bleus.

— ANI