The World Cup will begin in Australia the next week, and England will be one of the teams competing for the championship.
France, a European powerhouse that will be competing in the World Cup as well, will be hoping to put their recent issues behind them in order to compete for the honor. The French Football Federation created a fantastic tournament advertisement in collaboration with Orange.
The opening sequence of the two-minute commercial features superstars from the men’s team, including Kylian Mbappe, Antoine Griezmann, Kingsley Coman, and Aurelien Tchouameni.
In the series of highlights, players can be seen producing tricks, flicks and brilliant strikes.
Halfway through, however, the ad produces a killer twist.
A message on screen reads: “Only Les Bleus can give us these emotions. But that’s not them you’ve just seen.”
The video then rewinds to the beginning, and reveals that all of the clips shown were actually from France’s women’s team matches – edited with VFX to look like their male counterparts.
It then proceeds to show the real clips, with Delphine Cascarino and Co producing moments of magic.
Seeing the advert on Reddit, fans praised its originality.
One wrote: “I’m tricked. Going to question the rest of my reality now.”
While a second commented: “Absolutely bamboozled me. Great ad.”
A third admitted: “Pretty clever that. Can’t wait for the WC to start.”
Another added: “That’s actually really awesome.”
While a further social media user joked: “Knew it was fake when I saw Griezmann beat a man but great ad.”
France enter the tournament having sacked head coach Corinne Diacre in March.
The 48-year-old was said to have caused a “a very significant divide” within the squad.
Her tenure was littered with high-profile feuds with some of her most high-profile players – including Marie-Antoinette Katoto, Amandine Henry and Eugenie Le Sommer.
The final straw came earlier this year, when skipper Wendie Renard announced that she would no longer be available for her country because she “can no longer support the current system”.
