For their final group match against Tunisia, Didier Deschamps decided to rest nine top players, including Antoine Grizemann, captain Hugo Lloris and World Cup top scorer Kylian Mbappe. “Les Bleus” already booked their place in the next round after their brilliant victory against Denmark last week.
Didier Deschamps has probably the most talented 11 players of the tournament: Varane, MBappe, Griezmann, and Dembele are some of the best players in Europe – but when it comes to rotating, we can see the difference. New players were included in the squad (Guendouzi, Fofana, Camavinga, Kolo Muani, Veretout, Mandanda, Disasi), and most of them were very disappointing. However, it’s not a surprise. Besides Camavinga (Real Madrid), they all play for very average teams in Europe (such as Marseille, Francfort, and Monaco), and they are simply in Qatar to complete the squad.
When Didier Deschamps announced his World Cup squad on November 9, we all knew where we were going. A strong XI and “the rest of the team.” And there is an explanation for that: France has been ravaged by injuries a few weeks before the start of Qatar 2022.
Important players – N’Golo Kante, Paul Pogba, Mike Maignan, and Presnel Kimpempe missed out 2022 WC. And more bad news to come.
A few days before the start of the World Cup, 2022 Ballon d’Or winner Karim Benzema had to leave the team because of a quadriceps injury. Bundesliga’s most recent MVP Christopher Nkunku also got injured and went home. France also lost 2018 key player Lucas Hernandez after only 10 minutes in the opening game vs. Australia.
A new tournament will start now
This defeat against Tunisia will be easily forgotten, as they finished top of Group D easily – which was “Les Blues” main objective.
Poland will face France on Sunday (December 4 at 6 PM local time), which miraculously qualified for the round of 16 without even trying to score a goal against Argentina last Wednesday.
For sure, these second-choice French players who are just lucky to be here will sit on the bench again – and watch and learn.
Planning a trip to Paris ? Get ready !
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Bookstore
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