From November in Qatar, the France team will participate in its 7th final phase in a row (the 16th in total) of the World Cup. Seeded, will the Blues benefit from a lenient draw in the first round as systematically during the World Cup since that of 1998 or should they fear a group of death as during the last Euro where they found themselves with the Portugal, Germany and Hungary? For 24 years, the Habs have enjoyed a particularly favorable draw.
In 1998, during the World Cup played at home, France had inherited a very affordable group with South Africa, Saudi Arabia and Denmark, its lucky charm in international competitions (the Scandinavian team has always ended up with the Habs during the group phase of the two world titles in 1998 and 2018, and continental in 1984 and 2000). The Blues had then won their 3 matches before finishing on the roof of the world two weeks later.
Four years later, France, reigning world champion fell with Senegal, Uruguay and Denmark. Nothing insurmountable but the selection of Roger Lemerre finished last in his group with… 0 goals scored while he had in his ranks the top scorer of the Premier League (Thierry Henry), Calcio (David Trezeguet) and L1 (Djibril Cisse).
In 2010, the disaster despite an affordable chicken
During the 2006 World Cup, the last competition contested by Zinédine Zidane, the Blues, despite an easy draw (Switzerland, South Korea and Togo), had to wait for the second act of the last pool match against the African team to score two goals (Henry and Vieira) and validate their ticket for the round of 16 then lose in the final against Italy during the penalty shootout.
For the 2010 World Cup, an edition marked by the bus affair in Knysna and an elimination in the 1st round, the team led by Raymond Domenech had nevertheless benefited from a favorable draw despite its non-presence in the first hat of the seeded. But the Blues failed to break through the lock of Uruguay (0-0) then fell to Mexico (2-0) and South Africa (2-1).
New coach for two years, Didier Deschamps had a good draw at the 2014 World Cup by inheriting Honduras (3-0), Switzerland (5-2) and Ecuador (0-0). The Habs were then eliminated in the quarter-finals by Germany (1-0), the eventual winner.
Finally, the World Cup in Russia in 2018 was no exception to the rule with a new positive draw despite a sluggish group phase against Australia (2-1), Peru (1-0) then Denmark (0- 0). The Blues then achieved a magnificent course from the round of 16 which led them to conquer their second star.