The French national team will open its group stage in the World Cup in three days with a meeting against Australia in Group D. The world champions will try to repeat the achievement of the recent Brazilian team that won the tournament twice in a row – 1958 and 1962, but this evening (Saturday) received a hard line with the injury of Karim Benzema in training that may miss him from the entire world championship.
Didier Deschamps has had quite a few headaches heading into the tournament with injuries to Presnel Kimpamba and Christopher Ankonko cut from the squad, but now, one injury worries him more than anything else. Karim Benzema tried to train today for the first time with his friends since the Tricolor arrived in Doha, but he abandoned the training, will not play against Australia in the opening match and there is a great fear among the Tricolor that he will not be able to take part in the entire tournament in Qatar. Unlike Benzema, Raphael Varane also returned to full training today and it seems that he trained as usual.
???????? The Blues did their first training behind closed doors tonight in Qatar. The team of potential holders was organized in 4-2-3-1:
Lloris – Pavard, Upamecano, Konaté, Lucas Hernandez – Rabiot, Tchouaméni – Mbappé, Griezmann, Dembele – Giroud.https://t.co/37tYr8CFX0 pic.twitter.com/Kavo96LGyk
— RMC Sport (RMCsport) November 18, 2022
The man on the lines who led the tricolor to its first win in 20 years in the World Championship, made several changes in the last training sessions from the lineup and formation he played with in the last qualifying campaign and the League of Nations. After usually playing with three defenders, Deschamps practiced a 4-2-3-1 formation in the last training session, with Dayo Ofamakanu and Ibrahima Konte expected to repeat their defensive partnership from the days of RB. Leipzig. In the defensive positions, the two who stood out in the 2018 World Cup – Benjamin Favar and Lucas Hernandez – will return to receive the credit, with Hugo Lloris standing in goal with the captain’s armband. In midfield, Adrien Rabiot practiced next to Orléans Tshoumani, the replacements for the injured Angolo Kante and Paul Pogba, and in front of them will be Ousmane Dembele on the right, Kylian Mbappe on the left and Antoine Griezmann who will be behind Olivier Giroud.
The group stage games of the French national team
France – Australia (22.11)
France – Denmark (26.11)
Tunisia – France (30.11)