In March 2020, Bruce Bochy, the San Francisco Giants legend, was in the USA with the French national team preparing for the World Cup qualifying rounds. They won a match against Giants minor leaguers, then lost another to a Triple-A pitcher before COVID-19 derailed everything.
September 2021, he was expected back for the European Cup. Again, the health crisis prevented him from coming to France, where he was set to manage the France Challenge in La Rochelle. Keino Perez stepped in at the last minute, but the poor results relegated the team to the European Cup B. Recently, however, the French players have bounced back, earning a spot in the European Cup A.
September 2022, he’s finally back on French soil to once again serve as the French national team’s head coach.
He’ll be in Montigny on September 7th to watch a youth training session, followed by an autograph and photo session. Then he’s off to Toulouse for the French national team’s preparation camp. We eagerly await his roster selection, which is sure to hold some surprises, as playing foreign-born players for France is possible under certain conditions.
From September 10th to 13th, he’ll coach the team, with a photo and autograph session scheduled for September 11th starting at 5:30 PM after the public training session.
Then the entire squad will fly to Germany for the qualifying round from September 16th to 21st.
We’ll cover this competition in future articles.
Photo credit: Glenn Gervot
Illustration credit: Fabrice Tribes
