France
The Road to the 2018 FIFA World Cup
France faced a tough qualifying group containing Sweden and the Netherlands, as well as a solid Bulgarian team. Eventually, the Dutch went into meltdown and failed even to make the play-offs, while France finished top of the group, despite some slip-ups. In the first match, France drew 0-0 away with Belarus, but an even bigger surprise was when they failed to score against minnows Luxembourg later in the campaign. Ultimately though, Didier Deschamps’ team won seven matches out of 10, and suffered only one defeat, away to Sweden. Notably, they also routed the Netherlands 4-0 at home.
Stars
In recent years France have produced an array of top-quality players, and fans have every reason to expect the team to go far in Russia.
Atletico Madrid forward Antoine Griezmann is one of the team’s biggest stars. He was top scorer at the home European Championships in 2016 with six goals, and was voted player of the tournament. He will aim to repeat that success in Russia, and to improve on his appearances at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, where he failed to score.
The team has high hopes for teenage prodigy Kylian Mbappe, currently at French giants PSG. The striker made his international debut at 18, and became the youngest French international to score since 1963 when he netted against the Netherlands.
In midfield, Chelsea’s N’Golo Kante plays a key role. Many describe the tough defensive midfielder as a new Claude Makelele, and he certainly looks the part.
Kante is often partnered with Paul Pogba, whose transfer from Juventus to Manchester United for €105 million ($130 million) was a world record fee at the time. That record was beaten in the summer of 2017, when PSG paid €222 million ($275 million) for Brazilian star Neymar.
France have a number of star names in defense as well, with Real Madrid’s Raphaele Varane and Barcelona’s Samuel Umtiti the preferred center-back pairing in recent qualifiers.
Experienced goalkeeper Hugo Lloris is team captain, and the Tottenham man has made almost 100 appearances for the national team.
Coach
Didier Deschamps was the captain of the great France team that won the 1998 World Cup and the 2000 European Championships. Deschamps came close to guiding the nation to glory at their home European Championships in 2016, but ‘Le Tricolor’ lost to Portugal in extra time. Striker Andre-Pierre Gignac had a golden chance to win it for his team in the 90th minute, but hit the post.
Deschamps prefers a 4-2-3-1 formation, with Pogba and Kante as a powerful pair of midfielders. The offensive diamond often features Olivier Giroud as a striker and Griezmann as a second striker.
Past Achievements
Russia 2018 will be the France’s 15th appearance at the World Cup, and past campaigns have ranged from the sublime to the scandalous. Their finest achievement came as hosts in 1998, when they won the trophy by beating defending champions Brazil in the final. Even a young Ronaldo couldn’t help the five-time champions, although he had reportedly suffered an epileptic fit just ahead of the game. Some even claimed that Brazil’s star striker had been poisoned.
In 2006, France made it to the final again, but lost out to Italy. The two teams both scored early, and the match eventually went to penalties. Italy converted all of their spotkicks while David Trezeguet hit the crossbar for the French.
Perhaps just as memorable as the result was the incident in the 109th minute, when Zinedine Zidane head-butted Italy defender Marco Materazzi, who had insulted his family. The Italian immediately collapsed on the field, and the referee showed the French captain a red card.
The French bowed out at the group stage in 2010, and lost to Germany in the quarter-finals last time out in Brazil.