FIFA World Cup series: insight into each team (France)

Welcome back to my blog,and from today onwards, I will be giving you an insight to a nation at the WC through some short 3–5 minute articles. Do look out for the countries you are interested in, and let’s get started with our first nation; France

WC matches (so far): 23 Nov vs Australia, 27 Nov vs Denmark and 30 Nov vs Tunisia.

History

France have won the World Cup twice, winning the 1998 and 2018 editions. Traditionally, France have been heavily involved in the knockout rounds for this tournament, but this year might be different with the World Cup curse.

Chances to win the World Cup?

France are a massive footballing nation with a talented squad, but they have suffered some huge blows with injuries to key players like Varane, Kante and Pogba. The two midfielders and Center back were vital to their team’s success last time around, and the French may struggle without these experienced players. Nevertheless, I’d say they still have a fair shot at the World Cup with the squad they have, and hopefully they don’t fall to the WC curse.

Key players

While I have already highlighted the game changers and best players of each team in my last WC articles, I will still go through some key players in each squad.

First up we have Mbappe. Enough said. Then, we have the dynamic midfield duo of Real Madrid, Tchouameni and Camavinga. Both young talents will have to step up and replace Pogba and Kante seamlessly, and their talent should help them do that. Meanwhile, Jules Kounde will be important in that backline, while Hugo Lloris will look to bring his 2018 WC form to Qatar.

Predicted line-up: Lloris (GK), Upamecano, Kounde, Lucas Hernandez, Theo Hernandez, Camavinga, Tchouameni, Pavard, Griezmann, Benzema and Mbappe (3–4-1–2)

Thank you all for reading this article, hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it. Do look forward to the continuation of this series, and till next time, adios!