Former PSV player looks ahead to World Cup clash: “Hopefully they’ve learned from that.”

Nicolas Isimat-Mirin was a player for PSV from 2014 to 2019 and during that time grew into a true cult hero among PSV supporters. Moreover, Isimat managed to become national champion with PSV a total of three times.

The Frenchman has stopped playing football and is now actively working as a youth coach at PSV. The former defender also lives with great confidence as he looks ahead to the semi-final at the World Cup in North America between his country France and Spain.

This is what the 34-year-old Isimat says in an interview with Sportnieuws.nl. ''France this year is really great to see. We started building this team years ago, and that has already paid off for us with the World Cup title (2018, ed.) and the Nations League (2021, ed.). However, at Euro 2024 they also lost to Spain… Hopefully they learned from that. I'm really proud to be French, although I also feel Dutch,'' the former defender tells candidly.

The Frenchman expects a great match between the two European top teams. ''It will be a tactical duel. I think that France will play with a bit more depth runs and more direct football, because that’s how you can hurt Spain. France may have slightly more individual qualities and will therefore want to set the tempo,'' continues Isimat.

According to the cult hero, even the width of the French selection can be decisive. ''The foundation of France is of course already really good, but for me the difference compared to the past few years is in the bench. If you see which players we can bring in now, all from the bench'', the Frenchman said.

Despite Isimat’s trust, the former defender refuses to make a normal prediction for the clash between France and Spain. ''I don’t want to jinx France, so I’ll just say that Spain wins 5-0'', decides the former defender with a laugh.