For part four of our series of looking at the listed favourites for the World Cup in North America – we are looking at 1998 and 2018 champions France, weighing up all the pros and cons for Les Blues.
On paper, France probably have the best squad in international football. They have more depth than they know what they need to. Frankfurt striker Hugo Ekitike is reportedly wanted by Liverpool this summer after a fantastic season in the Bundesliga – and he doesn’t even get into the squad.
The last international window in June was Rayan Cherki’s first call up to the senior national team – as recently as March he was still playing for the U21s. This shows just how strong the squad France have at their disposal is.
However, there is one slight issue for the two time World champions. Football isn’t played on paper. It’s played on grass. It was played on grass at the Euros in Germany last summer. On that grass, France were absolutely honking.
Genuinely, it was almost admirable how such a talented crop of players could look so bad. You may think “they got to the semi finals and only lost to the winners in Spain, was it that bad?” but oh it was. It was that bad and much worse.
They kicked off their campaign with a 1-0 win over Austria thanks to an own goal. That was followed up with a 0-0 draw against the Netherlands – one of only two clean sheets their opponents kept in six games. Ronald Koeman’s side also had a goal controversially disallowed.
To conclude their group stage, they drew 1-1 with Poland as Kylian Mbappe and Robert Lewandowski traded penalties – the Poles only point of the tournament.
Next up, they faced neighbours Belgium in the round of 16 – where it took a late own goal from 37-year old Jan Vertonghen to win the game 1-0 in a dull affair. That was followed by a 0-0 draw with Portugal after two hours of play – where five perfect penalties were enough to book a round of 16 spot.
They then faced Spain in the semi finals, where an early header from Randal Kolo Muani was the first – and only – goal a France player scored from open play. However, two goals in the subsequent 16 minutes were enough for the Spanish to progress.
So, all of those wonderful players, and yet Didier Deschamps’ side scored four goals in six games (plus a further 30 minutes). Two own goals, one penalty, and a header from Kolo Muani. Pretty embarrassing.
If France didn’t already have an embarrassment of riches, they certainly do now. Since the Euros, Michael Olise of Bayern Munich and Desire Doue of Paris Saint Germain have been called up and are a part of the furniture. As mentioned earlier, Cherki has now been introduced to the senior side too.
Even looking at the players who were part of the Euros squad – it is undeniable that Ousmane Dembele is a better player now than he was 12 months ago, having just had the best season of his career, and being seen as a serious Ballon D’or candidate.
To have Dembele, Mbappe, Olise, Doue, Bradley Barcola, Cherki, Marcus Thuram, and Kolo Muani as the attackers in your most recent squad is just absurd. That does not include Kingsley Coman either, who would be a lot of nation’s best winger.
Perhaps, if there was one question to ask – most of those players are wingers or strikers. With Antoine Griezmann retiring from international football, a void was left in the number ten role. The progress of Cherki has been very timely in that regard. He could be a starter more or less straight away.
That is, if Deschamps does not go for three deeper midfielders, as he often did at the Euros. You would hope that lessons have been learned given how poor their performances were, but we shall see.
All of that said, France are not one of those top heavy teams, with poor players to choose from elsewhere on the pitch – such as a side like Sweden. No no, far from it. Let’s take a look at the options Deschamps has at his disposal in other areas of the pitch.
During their last outing – a 2-0 win over Germany in the nations league third place play off – France had the luxury of PSG midfield talent Warren Zaire-Emery being an unused sub. Manu Kone, who had a superb debut season at Roma, came on in the second half.
The starting double pivot was Adrien Rabiot of Marseille and Aurelien Tchouameni of Real Madrid. Whilst at times, Rabiot has been used as a punch bag in criticism of Deschamps, it cannot be denied that he has had some very good performances for the national team.
Meanwhile, the pedigree and merits of Tchouameni do not need a lot of discussion – it is pretty accepted that he is one of the best in the world in his position. A very capable player both on and off the ball.
That is not to mention the injured Eduardo Camavinga, who has been a very important player for Real Madrid over the years. Other midfield names include Matteo Guendouzi of Marseille and Youssouf Fofana of AC Milan. That too Ngolo Kante, now of Al Ittihad, who showed at the Euros that there is still life in the old dog yet.
It’s almost funny. Deep midfield is perhaps the weakest part of the France squad – and yet look at some of those players mentioned. It really does say everything about how good their squad is in general that players like that are seen as potentially the weakest part of the squad.
Back in central defence, Deschamps really does have a lot of good options at his disposal. Whilst they were dreadful going forwards last summer, they were pretty good at the back. With the personnel they have there, it is little wonder why.
In Germany, France used a central defensive duo of William Saliba of Arsenal and Dayot Upamecano of Bayern Munich. The latter has had the best season of his career under former centre-back Vincent Kompany, and will feel confident of being a starter.
Then you look at some of their other options. You have Lucas Hernandez of PSG, Loic Bade of Sevilla, and Ibrahima Konate of Liverpool – to name but a few.
Across to right-back. Some may say this is the weakest part of the squad. The only real out and out right back to be regularly called up is Malo Gusto of Chelsea. Jonathan Clauss of Nice has 14 caps, but is more of a wing-back.
Then the flip side – Jules Kounde of Barcelona and Benjamin Pavard of Inter Milan are centre backs by trade. However, the former just had the best season of his career playing right-back at Barcelona, and scored the winner in the Copa Del Rey final. He has also regularly played at full-back for the national team.
Additionally, Pavard was the starting right-back when Deschamps side went all the way in 2018. So, even if they are central defenders by trade, they are still good options to have. As centre-backs, they are capable defensively, but can also contribute to the attack.
On the other side, Theo Hernandez of Milan has been the number one left-back for a few years now. His offensive ability is very hard to question, though he can sometimes be left wanting defensively. He strikes good balance with Kounde or Pavard on the other side. The likely back up is Lucas Digne of Aston Villa, who feels like a solid second choice to have.
Ironically, Theo’s aforementioned brother Lucas, can also play left-back, and did so during their successful campaign in 2018. He started ahead of his brother in France’s opener in 2022 against Australia, but came off for him early on after an ACL injury.
Sadly for Lucas, he has suffered another ACL injury since then, though came back late last season to play a part in PSG winning their first ever treble. The French will be hoping that these injuries can now be a thing of the past.
Finally, in goal – where Mike Maignan is probably coming off the back of his worst season for Milan. That said, he is still one of the best keepers in the world, and has often showed as much for club and country. Lille’s Lucas Chevalier is only 23 years old, and will be keeping Maignan on his toes.
We have all learned over the years that football is far from a simple game. Despite this level of squad, the task will be knitting it all together on the pitch. Just in March, they lost 2-0 to Croatia in the nations league before coming back in the second leg. That type of performance has not been uncommon in the Deschamps era.
To quickly go back to the attack. Let’s be hypothetical and say for example – they start with Olise off the right, Dembele off the left, Cherki as the ten and Mbappe up front. You have an incredibly blend of creativity, pace, and finishing. And that would be without the likes of Doue and Barcola in the side. No other nation can boast that level of quality.
So, all in all – incredible quality and depth all over the pitch. The issue is Deschamps. Will he be able to get the best of them? If Les Blues had Zinedine Zidane in charge, they’d likely be the outright number one favourites for the competition. We shall see.
