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France being the reigning world champion has two main tasks heading to Qatar in the winter. To successively defend their title and be the first one to do so in ages and get rid of the curse of the champion failing to make it past the group stage at the following world cup. Though first, their priority should definitely be the latter as it has happened to them once before in the 2002 edition of the tournament.

However, their current squad list and its potential to give the 25 best should easily overshadow the so-called champion curse in Qatar. On top of that, they are rammed up with top-level playing goalkeepers, defenders, midfielders, and of course even more embellished forwards.

France 25 Men Squad For The FIFA World Cup 2022 – Who are In?

France Group

The defending champion has Denmark, Australia, and Tunisia lined up with them in Group D.

How Will The Matches Be Played: Group Fixtures

Will France Defend Their Title; How Far Will They Go?

France has fairly easy group matches with the likes of Australia, Denmark, and Tunisia. While Australia and Tunisia have minimal threats against Les Bleus, Denmark is the team that Deschamps’ team will have to worry about. Worth mentioning is the Scandinavian beat them in the UEFA Nations League both home and away. Nevertheless, France does have better odds of making it past the group stage.

If France were to top their group they will be facing the runner-up of group C. Analysts have predicted the team to be Poland rather than Mexico. If the two-time world champion manages to beat either of the team, they will have a pretty difficult pool of teams who they will be facing for the quarter-finals with the likes of England, USA, Netherlands, and Senegal.

If somehow France does beat any of the aforesaid teams, they definitely aren’t going to have easy semi-finals where they have the possibility of facing giants like Spain, Germany, Belgium, Brazil, Portugal, and Uruguay.

On the other hand, if Europe’s Blues fail to secure the top position in Group D, but only manage to get the second position, they are very likely to face the current number one favorite, Argentina in the knockouts. This fixture very much won’t be in favor of France either projection-wise or even by other metrics. But if they do win against Lionel Messi and his team, in the next phases, they will have the possibility of facing the Netherlands, Brazil, and England respectively.

France Strengths

The French side despite the absence of key players still is the top-level contender for the world cup trophy.

But above all, their biggest strength and the highlight will definitely be the pace and impressive goal-scoring ability of PSG prince, Kylian Mbappe. Despite his messy transfer saga between his current club and the Spanish giant, Real Madrid, his on-field performances have remained top-notch. The young adult has been scoring in literally every match be it in Ligue 1 or the UCL.

Mix his attacking prowess with the recent Ballondr winner, Karim Benzema, and another equally relentless flank terrorizer, Ousmane Dembele, and you will have one of the most frightening attacking fronts this world cup will have. All this excludes another killer talisman Antoine Griezman.

With past champions and a handful of young talents already playing at Europe’s top level, France has one of the best blends of old and new men in Fifa 2022.

France Weaknesses

The absence of fundamental midfielders, N’Golo Kante and Paul Pogba is more than likely to haunt them at some point in the tournament, most probably in the later stages. Manchester United’s defender, Raphael Varanne is one other absentee that has made them worry a bit about their backline’s strength.

Failing to keep a clean sheet has been another key problem for some periods. They’ve just managed to get one out of their last five games ahead of the competition in Qatar.