France has a team to do something that hasn’t happened in 60 years: a world champion team successfully defend their title in the next tournament. The last was Brazil from 1958-1962.
Coach Didier Deschamps will have an offensive weapon that has been absent for four years in Russia: forward Karim Benzema, 34 (he will be 35 the day after the World Cup final in Qatar). Fighting with the national federation, with the coach and even with the country’s politicians after being accused of participating in the attempted extortion of teammate Mathieu Valbuena, he is back.
The top scorer was reincorporated to the team before Euro 2021. This year, after being the biggest name for Real Madrid (ESP) in winning the Champions League, he won the Golden Ball for best player of the season and is one of the favorites for ace of the year of FIFA.
“People talk about favorite teams, but they forget that the World Cup is a unique tournament. [de mata-mata] anything can happen. One mistake decides everything”, defines Deschamps, repeating the formula he employed in 2018 of trying to take the pressure off his players as much as possible.
Alongside Zagallo and German Franz Beckenbauer, he is the only one to have lifted the trophy as a player and coach. He was defensive midfielder for the champion team in 1998.
France is proof that a team can fluctuate a lot in a four-year period. Twice a semi-finalist in the 1980s (1982 and 1986), he failed to qualify for the 1990 and 1994 tournaments. This despite having a generation of talented attacking names such as Eric Cantona, David Ginola and Jean-Pierre Papin.
Champion as host in 1998, at home, had a disastrous title defense in 2002. Zinedine Zidane was injured a week before the debut and the team exited the tournament in South Korea and Japan eliminated in the group stage, with only one point won. in three games.
Finalist in 2006 (in the historic game of Zidane’s header to the chest of Italian Materazzi), he imploded during the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. Nicolas Anelka took out his anger on coach Raymond Domenech, the other players attempted a strike and full-back Patrice Evra almost got in the arm with a member of the coaching staff. Once again, he didn’t even make it to the round of 16.
The 2014 squad, eliminated in the quarterfinals by the champions Germany, would be the embryo of what would be consecrated in Russia.
But there are problems. Hugo Lloris is a fickle goalkeeper and France had a disappointing campaign in the last Nations League. At Euro 2021, he fell surprisingly, on penalties, against Switzerland, in the round of 16. It yielded a 3-3 tie in normal time after taking the 3-1 lead.
The world champion has physical issues and a serious embezzlement confirmed. Injured, midfielder N’Golo Kanté is out of the tournament and Deschamps has no other player capable of giving energy in midfield, stealing so many balls and still reaching the attack, like the Chelsea athlete (ING).
Last week, defender Raphael Varane suffered a calf injury and will be out for two to three weeks.
Paul Pogba is recovering from a knee injury and will be back in time to play in the Cup, but he will have to speed up the preparation to be 100% and there is doubt about his pace of play.
The off-field issues surround important athletes. Pogba himself had to receive police protection because he was threatened with extortion by a group of childhood friends and his brother Mathias.
There is concern about the atmosphere between players, coaching staff and managers. Especially star Kylian Mbappé. The striker repeatedly complained about the issue of payment of the athletes’ image rights. Last month, he announced that he would not participate in a photo shoot with the team’s sponsors.
An emergency meeting was called with the participation of Noel Le Graet, president of the French Federation, Deschamps, Varane, Lloris and Mbappé to try to resolve the situation. A new deal was made, but this showed internal problems.
France is in Group D of the World Cup and opens against Australia on 22 November. Denmark and Tunisia are also in the key.
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