France is Facing the World Cup Curse

_{Creative design thanks to Canva}

Just as when I thought France could be the exception of this 2022 World Cup edition, my intuition tells me France will likely follow this difficult position. I mentioned in my post that France is one of the most heavily favored team to win the competition because they really have a stacked team. Players that are playing at elite level with lucrative weekly salaries in the bag.

At first, losing key center midfields N'golo Kante and Paul Pogba was "manageable" but their absence are painful. But there are players like Rabiot, Camavinga, and Tchouameni that can rotate for the midfield. The confidence of the potential for this team was never tarnished. Afterall, their frontly is the deadliest among deadliest. We are talking about Mbappe, Benzema, Nkunku, Griezmann, Dembele, & Giroud. These people are some of the top performers of this generation. In fact, they have the current Ballon D'or holder Karim Benzema to lead the attack with French golden boy Kylian Mbappe.

_{Pogba, Kante, Nkunku, Kimpembe, & just recently Benzema, a photo from Sportsbrief}

Then they lost their solid center-back, the PSG sensation Presnel Kimpembe who was lethal in defense for France 2018 world cup win. Not gonna lie, but his loss adds another scare to their World Cup hopes. His experience, strength, and tenacity will surely be missed. Luckily, this year's edition has featured new on-radar quality center-backs at the moment. Jules Kounde, the former Sevilla man who is currently playing for top club FC Barcelona and William Saliba - the new Arsenal centerback whose loved by Arteta. He has the height, fighting spirit, aggressiveness to score goals, and defender's instinct. Currently in their prime, both of them, Varane, and Konate, are working very hard to provide a very strong midline defense for France Football Federation (FFF).

But what concerns me the most is the recent news - Karim Benzema will miss the World Cup hours before the first kick off will happen due to "an injury incurred in their training". How unlucky is that, considering this is the first time in probably a decade that Benzema will participate for the France delegation of this year's World Cup. This information that I got was from Skysports where they mentioned Karim has been working very hard to be in shape as he was given a 3-week period to prepare his healthy and physique to be included for the France squad. Didier Dechamps, France headcoach has decided to leave his vacancy open even though the Real Madrid striker and current Ballon D'or winner is absent for the tournament.

_{Benzema, the current on-form Ballon D'or winning will miss 2022 World Cup in Qatar, photo credit from Mirror UK}

With these setback of injuries, this could be a potential reason why the World Cup curse might happen. Here are the countries who has won the world cup and has experienced the world cup curse (nations who won the World Cup and did not qualify for the knockout stage the next edition after).

1998 France wins World Cup - gets eliminated in the knockout stage
2002 Brazil wins World Cup - didn't get eliminated
2006 Italy wins World Cup - gets eliminated in the knockout stage
2010 Spain wins World Cup - gets eliminated in the knockout stage
2014 Germany wins World Cup - gets eliminated in the knockout stage

If you have noticed, any European team that won the World Cup title experiences this curse. France is not an exemption for this (and considering they already experienced it too). By looking at the series of injuries I mentioned above and the World Cup curse that has been happening, we can't simply ignore this fact.

But on the other hand, France is extremely lucky to have an easier group.

Australia - Top 38
Tunisia - 30
Denmark - 10

By looking at the current rankings, Denmark is their most difficult opponent, ranking number 10.

At first, losing key center midfields N'golo Kante and Paul Pogba was "manageable" but their absence are painful. But there are players like Rabiot, Camavinga, and Tchouameni that can rotate for the midfield. The confidence of the potential for this team was never tarnished. Afterall, their frontly is the deadliest among deadliest. We are talking about Mbappe, Benzema, Griezmann, Dembele, & Giroud. These people are some of the top performers of this generation. In fact, they have the current Ballon D'or holder Karim Benzema to lead the attack with French golden boy Kylian Mbappe.

1998 France wins World Cup - gets eliminated in the knockout stage
2002 Brazil wins World Cup - didn't get eliminated
2006 Italy wins World Cup - gets eliminated in the knockout stage
2010 Spain wins World Cup - gets eliminated in the knockout stage
2014 Germany wins World Cup - gets eliminated in the knockout stage

But on the other hand, France is extremely lucky to have an easier group.

Australia - Top 38
Tunisia - 30
Denmark - 10

By looking at the current rankings, Denmark is their most difficult opponent, ranking number 10. So, by looking at the numbers it seemed to be very unlikely that France could be beaten. Who knows, even Spain who won World Cup 2010 was heavily defeated by Netherlands 5-0. Take note, they defeated the Dutch in that Finals of 2010. They also dominated both 2008 & 2012 Euro. Germany lost their hope for the knockout stage after Son Heung Min's South Korea surpisingly defeated them. Korea Republic is #28 in world cup standings and there's no reason why can Tunisia and Australia can beat the French.

_{Screenshot courtesy of Google's match fixture results feature}

One crazy thing I found was that Denmark defeated France back-to-back in the Nations League. That's crazy if this winning streak continues, I can see France & Argentina battle it out in the quarter finals. Lionel Messi led - Argentina will likely to top the group so if France finishes as runner-up, its a tough battle!

Will the World Cup curse continue? Are the injuries of the French the sign that tells us they'll get eliminated in the group stage? Let's all hope to see a great World Cup experience for all of us.