World Cup preview: France
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France will arrive in Russia for this summer’s World Cup as one of the favourites to go all the way and lift the trophy.
The pain of losing the Euro 2016 final on home soil to Portugal will still be fresh in the minds for many of their squad, which possesses some of the world’s best talents and a frightening level of strength in depth.
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It is 20 years since France’s greatest moment of winning the 1998 World Cup as hosts, and the likes of Paul Pogba, Antoine Griezmann and Kylian Mbappe will be dreaming of replicating those heroes this summer.
Whether they can live up to the golden generation of Zinedine Zidane, Thierry Henry and Lilian Thuram remains to be seen, but there will be plenty of people backing Les Bleus to be celebrating on July 15.
Here, Sports Mole looks at their chances for the upcoming tournament in Russia.
GROUP
France have been handed a relatively kind draw in the group stages, with Australia, Peru and Denmark expected to battle it out for second place behind Didier Deschamps‘s side.
Les Bleus are the only team in their group who did not require a playoff match to reach the tournament, and it would take a fairly major surprise along the way if they were to be denied a perfect record in the group stages.
France will begin their campaign against Australia before taking on Peru and Denmark, with top spot expected to be enough for them to avoid Argentina in the first knockout round.
FRANCE FIXTURES
June 16: France vs. Australia (11am, Kazan Arena, Kazan)
June 21: France vs. Peru (4pm, Central Stadium, Yekaterinburg)
June 26: Denmark vs. France (3pm, Luzhniki Stadium, Moscow)
HOW THEY QUALIFIED
France’s qualifying campaign was not without its troubles, and a goalless draw away to Belarus in their very first outing suggested that there could be signs of a Euro 2016 hangover.
However, four successive wins followed – including crucial victories against closest challengers Netherlands and Sweden – before they were beaten late in Stockholm for their solitary defeat.
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Les Bleus bounced back from that with a resounding 4-0 win over Netherlands, though, and a while another goalless stalemate saw them drop unexpected points – this time at home to minnows Luxembourg – they saw themselves over the line as group winners with victories over Bulgaria and Belarus.
Only three of their seven qualifying wins came by a margin of more than one goal, though, and while they finished four points clear of both Sweden and Netherlands in Group A, there is a feeling that they will need to significantly improve if they are to make it far in this summer’s tournament.
RECENT FORM
France will head to Russia having lost just one of their last 12 matches stretching back more than a year, but there have been one or two questionable results which will prevent supporters from getting too carried away.
Chief among those was a 3-2 defeat at home to Colombia in March – which saw them throw away a two-goal lead – and a 1-1 draw against USA in their final warm-up friendly as Kylian Mbappe’s 78th-minute strike rescued the stalemate for the hosts.
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France did string together a three-match winning streak between those two results, though, overcoming Russia in Saint Petersburg in March before victories over Republic of Ireland and Italy more recently.
Les Bleus also recorded a 2-2 draw away to Germany in November, when they were only denied victory over the world champions by a stoppage-time equaliser.
SQUAD
Goalkeepers: Hugo Lloris (Tottenham), Steve Mandanda (Marseille), Alphonse Areola (Paris St-Germain).
Defenders: Lucas Hernandez (Atletico Madrid), Presnel Kimpembe (Paris St-Germain), Benjamin Mendy (Manchester City), Benjamin Pavard (Stuttgart), Adil Rami (Marseille), Djibril Sidibe (Monaco), Samuel Umtiti (Barcelona), Raphael Varane (Real Madrid).
Midfielders: N’Golo Kante (Chelsea), Blaise Matuidi (Juventus), Steven N’Zonzi (Sevilla), Paul Pogba (Manchester United), Corentin Tolisso (Bayern Munich).
Forwards: Ousmane Dembele (Barcelona), Nabil Fekir (Lyon), Olivier Giroud (Chelsea), Antoine Griezmann (Atletico Madrid), Thomas Lemar (Monaco), Kylian Mbappe (Paris St-Germain), Florian Thauvin (Marseille).
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