France vs Ivory Coast LIVE: Second half is underway, Mbappe subbed off! (1-0)

Plenty of changes from both sides. To the second half we go!

France has unequivocally been the best of the two sides, but Ivory Coast is not an easy prey. In fact, they've also had a couple of big chances to scare the French.

The man of the match is Cherki, who not only scored the goal for France, but is also playing at a very high level.

Undoubtedly the most impactful player in the game, Cherki is the one who has France leading as 15 minutes of rest await for the players.

In what can be one of the weirdest accidents, Ivory Coast's captain Franck Kessie clashed with the referee, who stopped the game afterwards. It seems like the referee is dizzy and really affected by the hit.

Rayan Cherki is too smooth with the ball. Cherki's first shot was saved by Fofana, then Cherki goes through two opponents and shoots again to the bottom right corner of Fofana who tries to save it but it's simply unstoppable!

What a strike and France leads just before halftime!

The game is wide open! Tchouameni lost the ball in a bad spot and left Ivory Coast's forward face to face with Maignan, who miraculously saved the shot down to his right!

Rayan Cherki is too good. He flicked the ball to himself to send a beautiful cross to Tchouameni whose header was very well saved by Fofana.

The stadium was in awe of Cherky's play!

Ivory Coast reestablishes its defensive order, tries to take longer possessions and slow the game down.

France is starting to overwhelm Ivory Coast. Mbappe sent a perfectly placed cross, and Konate headed it, but it was weak and wide right.

The fact that France is not winning this game is beyond logic. Thuram made a spectacular play that even took out the opposing GK, made the pass back, and Cherki instead of shooting opted to try and made an additional dribble.

Then, on a second play, Cherki had the chance to shoot again but was deflected!

Set pieces are key for inferior teams. Ivory Coast had a bad corner turned almost into gold, as captain Franck Kessie was able to control the ball, get off his defender and send a second cross to the box which was headed high by the Elephants attacker.

The referee pauses the game for both teams to rehydrate themselves as coaches give instructions in hopes of improving their game.

Michael Olise had a wide open shot but he framed his body too predictably, hence Fofana guessed the shot was going to the far post and managed to save it!

Now it was Adrien Rabiot's time to try his luck from outside the box but it went high.

France has all the possession and is livingjust outside of Ivory Coast's box. Still, the African side is not letting them through.

France is starting to heat up but Thuram's shot goes way off the target!

Mbappe tries to beat Fofana with his trademark near post shot but the goalkeeper manages to deflect the ball!

Kounde made a mistake and gifted position to Ivory Coast who attacked with speed but the cross was easily handled by Maignan.

There's been only three games between France and Ivory Coast. All friendlies.

France lead the way with two wins and one draw. The last game was back in 2022, a 2-1 win for France.

Stade de la Beaujoire is located in Nantes, France. The stadium is built with some sort of hexagon-shaped style. Stade de la Beaujoire has a capacity of 35,322 in attendance.

It opened up in 1984, but has seen some restorations, including in 1998 for the World Cup, and it held six games. Plans to build YelloPark to replace Stade de la Beaujoire ahead of the 2023 Rugby World Cup and 2024 Paris Olympics were officially scrapped on February 26, 2019.

France’s starting XI: Mike Maignan; Jules Kounde, Dayot Upamecano, Ibrahima Konate, Theo Hernandez; Aurelien Tchouameni, Adrien Rabiot, Rayan Cherki; Michael Olise, Kylian Mbappe, Marcus Thuram.

Ivory Coast’s starting XI: Yahia Fofana; Guela Doue, Wilfried Singo, Emmanuel Agbadou, Ghislain Konan; Frank Kessie (C), Seko Fofana, Yan Diomande, Simon Adingra; Elye Wahi, Oumar Diakite.

Welcome to our live blog for this international friendly! This time, France host Ivory Coast as both teams continue their preparations ahead of the 2026 World Cup. Stay with us for all the action and play‑by‑play updates of this matchup at Stade de la Beaujoire.