2018 FIFA WORLD CUP PREVIEW – FRANCE NATIONAL TEAM

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2018 FIFA WORLD CUP PREVIEW – FRANCE NATIONAL TEAM

Summary Of The Team

Once again France national team is entering World Cup as one of the favourites to go all the way. Entering this tournament France have a massive monkey on their back to perform well given the way this team played in the last few tournaments. After winning World Cup on their home soil in 1998 they failed to get out of the group stages in Japan 2002 followed by a loss in the Final against Italy in 2006. In 2010 French national team had a disaster of a tournament to say the least… that tournament had absolutely everything… What could have gone wrong, did! From players v players fights, players v fans fights, manager vs player fight, players refusing to play which led to France failing to qualify from group stages, after all that players like Nasri and Evra were suspended for few years and were not allowed to play for France. 2014 World Cup in Brazil was the one that got away in a lot of French fans eyes, luck was against them when it came to a draw having to play hosts Brazil in QF which led to their exit from the tournament with super talented team who were one of the favourites to go all the way. This time around France is bringing a very talented squad to Russia with young, quick, technical, smart and experienced players covering the 23-man squad. This team is covered with young players who already are champions for their clubs, Umtiti with Barcelona, Varane with Real Madrid, Kante with Chelsea, Tolisso with Bayern, Pogba with Manchester United, Mbappe with PSG, Griezmann with Atletico Madrid, Fekir with Lyon, Matuidi with Juventus, Lemar with Monaco. The balance is just perfect, for once it seems like there is quality players that cover every single position on the pitch. One of their best defenders over the last 5~ years Koscielny could not make the squad because of an injury while playing for Arsenal which is a big loss, but at the same time this could lead to a perfect partnership between young guns Varane and Umtiti. With players like Pogba, Mbappe, Griezmann, Dembele, Fekir, Lemar, Thauvin, Griezmann and Giroud France will be very dangerous going forward and with defensive line with Lloris, Umtiti, Varane, Pavard, Rami, Kimpembe, Kante, Matuidi they will be very hard to score against so for example in the group stages were they have to play weaker teams - Australia, Peru and Denmark Bets like: “France Win to Nil” – Bet365 or “French team total goals over 1.5/2.0/2.5” – Bet365/Pinnacle could be a very good choice because I see a lot of these games finishing with France victories 2-0, 3-0 or 4-0. Going forward oppositions in R16/QF/SF/Final will be much better so I expect French defence to stay strong, but their scoring to go down to 1 or 2 goals per game so at that stage I would be looking at Bets like: “Under 2.5/3.0/3.5” – Bet365/Pinnacle or “There will be 2 or 3 goals scored” – Bet365.

Road To The Finals

French road to Finals in Russia were relatively easy even though they were in the same group with Sweden and Netherlands, France finished their group with only one loss which was against Sweden away from home, Netherlands were beaten at home (4-0) and away (1-2), teams like Bulgaria, Luxemburg and Belarus never had a chance although France draw at home 0-0 against Luxemburg was a massive surprise to everyone. France offense and defence were on point again having scored 18 goals and conceding only 6 in 10 games (3:1 ratio per game). Having to play these average Nations in group stages didn’t show a lot about France but winning against Netherlands home and away has some indication, friendly draw against Germany 2-2 and win against Italy 3-1/3-2 against England adds to that. Scoring wise team didn’t have a specific leader that stud out, goals were divided between a lot of players, Giroud and Griezmann got 4 each, Gameiro, Lemar, Payet and Pogba got 2 each, Matuidi and Mbappe added 1 each. Having balanced attack like this is crucial because opposition doesn’t have to focus on one player knowing that there is so many others that can do the damage which makes French lives so much easier and oppositions that much harder.

The History of French National Team

French national team came about late compared to the rest of so called super nations. It was around 1980~ when France started to be recognised as one of the top footballing nations in the World having finished Fourth in 1982 World Cup in Spain, in 1984 they won European championships which was held in France, in 1986 they finished third in World Cup which was held in Mexico, 4-year gap that really put France on the map. After those 4 years France had to wait 10~ years for the next big thing, but what came after those 10 years it was worth a wait because in 1996 they reached semi-finals in European championships, in 1998 they won their first ever World Cup on their home soil and in 2000 they became European champions again. After that France had 2 more chances to go all the way, but felt short, in 2006 they lost in a World Cup final against Italy and just 2 years ago in 2016 European championships which was held in France they lost to Portugal in a Final. Now France is producing top quality players who will most certainly will add to the National trophy cabinet and are ready to take over from the “Legends” of the past like Thuram(142 caps), Thierry Henry(123 caps), Desailly(116 caps), Zidane(108 caps), Vieira(107 caps), Descamps(103 caps),Blanc/Lizarazu/Lloris(97 caps) and Wiltord(92 caps). Thierry Henry is still holding on to top scorers spot on the all-time scoring list having scored 51 goals in 123 games followed by Platini 41 and Trezeguet 34, active player who is closest to them all is Olivier Giroud who is currently on 31 goals having played 73 games, second closes is Benzema who is on 27 goals.

Key Players:

Griezmann: Griezmann is one of many superstars in French national team that is already achieving great things with Atletico Madrid. Griezmann joined Atletico from Real Sociedad in 2014 where he already played 142 games scoring 79 goals (5 years that he has been at Sociedad he scored 46 goals in 180 games) which shows great improvement that he made since moving to Atletico. Griezmann is a key player up front for France because his ability on the ball is superb, he is very quick, and he can play on the wing/centre which is huge advantage to have. He is 27 years old, age that I like to call “young player with experience”. Griezmann has been a key peace in French national team line up since 2014 in 4 years he has played 53 games scoring 20 goals. A lot of good things is expected from him in this World Cup because he is coming over to Russia after winning second most prestigious award in European club football Europa League. If France wants to go all the way – this player will be key from day one!

Mbappe: Another young superstar who shocked the world last summer with that massive €180 million move from Monaco to PSG. Mbappe had a break out season at Monaco a year ago where he helped Monaco to go all the way to UEFA CL semi-finals and with some sensational performances/goals people started to call him “the next Thierry Henry” which is a perfect description of him when you look at him play, his movement and most important his finishing. Mbappe only played 41 games for Monaco, but that was enough o show the world what he was capable off (16 goals were scored). In his first season for PSG he was along side Cavani and Neymar who formed a deadly trio, with those guys along side him he managed to net 13 goals in 27 games. Mbappe will be a key player for France as they finally have someone who can follow foot steps of Thierry Henry/Trezeguet and provide that quality finishing that they need. With what happened to him over the past 2 seasons experience is not a reason to have a bad World Cup, a lot of peoples eyes will be on him and he will be expected to perform.

Giroud: This comes as a surprise to many people because a lot of them would say that Pogba would be 3rd most valuable player, but when you take closer look at what Giroud is able to provide he must be there. Giroud moved from Arsenal to Chelsea in winter with the reason to get more regular playing time and boost his chances to make the world cup squad. At Chelsea he was used the same as at Arsenal where he came off the bench most of the time, but that is his strong point, that is the exact reason why he is 3rd most important player for France – his ability to come off the bench and change the game will be very important especially at R16 onwards where the games will only get harder!

Possibilities and Expectations

France like most of the favourites have been drawn in to relatively easy group with Australia, Peru and Denmark. Looking at this group France are without a doubt clear favourites to win it with maximum points. Peru did some damage in South America leaving the likes of Chile behind them, Australia qualified from Asia and Denmark had to go through Playoffs against Ireland to get to this stage. Looking at the quality I would have to say Denmark will be the hardest opposition to play against just because its European v European style match up, but in the end France with all the quality should have enough to finish the group with 3 wins.

If France qualifies from the group stage they would face either Argentina, Croatia, Nigeria or Iceland. Looking at that group you can say Argentina are favourites to finish first and, in that case, France should only be aiming for first place in their group with Croatia/Nigeria likely to finish second. Avoiding Argentina is no cause for celebration as Nigeria or Croatia would provide a very though game in the Round of 16. Nigeria is more likely to attack and with no expectations they can cause trouble, so I would think that that game would have 3/4 goals in it, Croatia are more defensive team and if they came up against France I see that game finishing 1-0 or going in to ET.

As for now that is as far as you can go in relation to speculation to who will face who in QF/SF/F. World Cup is a long process and at the same time a very difficult one, if you blink or relax for a second you could be out, or you could be playing against much stronger opposition than you could have. All in all, France are good enough to be called one of the favourites to go all the way, with that much talent, quality and experience this team has enough to win the World Cup after 20-year break.

France 23-man final World Cup squad

Alphonse Areola, Hugo Lloris, Steve Mandanda, Lucas Hernandez, Presnel Kimpembe, Benjamin Mendy, Benjamin Pavard, Adil Rami, Djibril Sidibe, Samuel Umtiti, Raphael Varane, N'Golo Kante, Blaise Matuidi, Steven N'Zonzi, Paul Pogba, Corentin Tolisso, Ousmane Dembele, Nabil Fekir, Olivier Giroud, Antoine Griezmann, Thomas Lemar, Kylian Mbappe, Florian Thauvin

Predicted Starting Line Up