World Cup 2018 Preview - France

Team: France

Manager: Dider  Deschamps

Group: Group C

Other teams in group: Peru, Australia, Denmark  

THE SQUAD:

The French have one of their most talented squads in years with some top players being left out of the squad like Anthony Martial, Alexandre Lacazette, Dimitri Payet and Kingsley Coman.

Deschamps will be calling on the likes of Paul Pogba and Antione Griezmann to deliver the goods for Les Bleus going forward with the likes of Kylian M’Bappe who is tipped to do big things at the tournament this summer and Nabil Fekir also likely to contribute on the attacking side of things.

The middle of the park is also a place where this talented French side excels. Coretin Tolliso, Blaise Matudi, N’Golo Kante and Steven N’Zonzi all have different qualities to their game so it will be interesting to see who Deschamps picks from the starts due to the sheer quality that he might have to leave out.

Defensively the French on paper are quite solid with the likes of Raphael Varane, Samuel Umtiti and the talented Prensel Kimpembe the main choices for the heart of the defence. Premier League winner Benjamin Mendy is probably the main choice for left back but could face stiff competition from Lucas Hernandez while at right back there is not many options to pick from but Djibril Sidibe is a solid enough choice.  

The squad in full: 

Goalkeepers: Hugo Lloris (Tottenham), Steve Mandanda (Marseille), Alphonse Areola (Paris St Germain)

Defenders: Djibril Sidibe (Monaco), Benjamin Pavard (Stuttgart), Samuel Umtiti (Barcelona), Raphael Varane (Real Madrid), Presnel Kimpembe (Paris St Germain), Adil Rami (Marseille), Benjamin Mendy (Manchester City), Lucas Hernandez (Atletico Madrid)

Midfielders: Paul Pogba (Manchester United), Corentin Tolisso (Bayern Munich), Blaise Matuidi (Juventus), N’Golo Kante (Chelsea), Steven Nzonzi (Sevilla)

Forwards: Antoine Griezmann (Atletico Madrid), Olivier Giroud (Chelsea), Kylian Mbappe (Paris St Germain), Ousmane Dembele (Barcelona), Florian Thauvin (Marseille), Nabil Fekir (Lyon), Thomas Lemar (Monaco).

HOW THEY GOT HERE:

France were drawn in Group A in the European Qualification with the main contenders in the group being The Netherlands and Sweden.

The French were never amazing throughout the campaign but had some decent wins beating Holland 4-0 in Amsterdam and Sweden 2-1 at home in Paris.

They did have some clangers in terms of results drawing the opening game against Belarus and Luxemburg at home. Sweden was there only defeat losing 2-1 in Stockholm.

France won the group by four points in the end and have had some good results in the friendly games over the last few months but if Deschamps wants to get anywhere near the trophy this summer, he will have to try to get his star players to work together if they want to get to latter stages of the competition.         

KEY PLAYERS TO WATCH OUT FOR: Kylian MBappe (Paris St Germain), Paul Pogba (Manchester United), Antoine Griezmann (Atletico Madrid)

WHERE THEY ARE PLAYING AND STAYING

France vs Australia (June 16^th) 11:00 AM Kazan Arena (Kazan) (45,379)

France vs Peru (June 21^st) 8:00 PM Ekateringburg Arena (Ekateringburg) (35,696)

Denmark vs France (June 26^th) 5:00 PM Luzhiniki Stadium (Moscow)   (81,000)

THREE INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT THE TEAM

Dider Deschamps led the French to the final of Euro 2016 on home soil but lost out to the Portugese in extra-time through a goal from Eder.

France were also the first team to win the Euro’s while being World Cup holders and this happened in 2000 with the tournament being hosted in The Netherlands and Belgium when they beat Italy during the old Golden Goal system.

A French player holds the record for scoring the most goals at a single World Cup this happened in 1958 when Just Fontaine scored 13.  

THEIR RECENT FORM

France 3-1 Russia (March 27^th)

France 2-0 Republic of Ireland (May 28^th)

France 3-1 Italy (June 1^st)

First game:  Australia, June 16^th (Kazan)