Norway coach Stale Solbakken made a gesture of solidarity by handing flowers to French team assistant Guy Stéphan before the start of Friday’s match. The Norwegian tribute was motivated by the recent death of coach Didier Deschamps’ mother, who returned to France for Ginette Deschamps’ funeral. The cause of death was not publicly disclosed.
A request by the French Football Federation for players to wear black armbands in mourning for Didier Deschamps’ mother was refused by FIFA. The request, made before Thursday’s game in Boston, did not receive approval from football’s highest governing body.
Minute of global silence in solidarity with the victims of the earthquake in Venezuela
Athletes from Norway and France also joined together in a tribute to the victims of the devastating earthquake in Venezuela. FIFA had ordered a minute of silence before all matches played this Thursday. In Toronto, Canada, Iraq and Senegal participated in the same tribute in the same period.
Last Wednesday night (24), a series of two consecutive earthquakes hit the northern region of Venezuela, including its capital, Caracas. The tremors caused severe devastation, collapsing buildings and leaving a scene of widespread destruction. Such events were classified as the most powerful to hit the country in more than a century, highlighting the magnitude of the tragedy that is plaguing the South American nation.
The Venezuelan government’s most recent report, released this Friday at 2:20 pm (Brasília time), points to an increase in the number of fatal victims of earthquakes, reaching 920 people. Previous reports from the same Friday already indicated that 2,980 people were injured as a result of the tremors.
The president of the National Assembly, Jorge Rodríguez, presented the new data, highlighting its provisional nature. Organizations such as the UN and the United States Geological Survey (USGS) warn that the final death toll could be substantially higher, considering the intensity of the tremors, the precariousness of infrastructure and the high population density of the affected regions.
Estimates from the United Nations (UN) Office of Humanitarian Aid suggest that the total number of people missing after the catastrophe in Venezuela could exceed the 50,000 mark.