Benzema set to return to French squad?

Karim Benzema’s World Cup hopes could yet still be alive.

The Real Madrid striker was seemingly ruled out of the tournament after picking up a thigh injury whilst training for the tournament. However, he has responded well to treatment and there is the possibility still of him flying out to Qatar to join up with the rest of the squad for the knock-out phases.

Embed from Getty Images

Benzema has a chequered history when it comes to the World Cup. Although he finished the 2014 tournament as France’s top scorer, he was barred from participating in the 2018 tournament in Russia due to his involvement in an unsavoury off-field incident.

He spent the best part of five years in the international wilderness, before he was recalled by Didier Deschamps in early 2021.

In the meantime he continued to excel at Real Madrid, where he seemed to blossom once Cristiano Ronaldo had left for Juventus, and, his exploits last season not only helped the club win a record 14^th Champions League, but also saw him named the winner of the Ballon d’Or at the age of 34.

It has not all been bad news for France whilst he has been absent, though. Olivier Giroud was expected to be just a bit part player at this World Cup, a man who, at the age of 36, was playing in what would surely be his last tournament.

But he started in the first game against Australia, netted twice, and, in the process, equalled Thierry Henry’s all-time goal scoring record for France. If he can find one more before leaving Qatar, he can draw down the curtain on his international career a happy man. Recalling Benzema might deny him his chance of making history.

Fans of Benzema would love to see him make a triumphant late return to Qatar, but it’s not likely to happen.

In the first place, although he may have got over his injury, he is not fully fit, not having trained fully for several weeks. Deschamps is unlikely to risk putting him in to the high pressure environment of a knock-out game. It may also necessitate a playing style midway through the tournament to accommodate him.

More pertinently, there is the risk that he might upset the harmony within the team. Although he has been forgiven for past misdemeanours as far as the management are concerned, there may still be some resentment among the squad about what happened and his role within it.

And France’s 2022 version is very much the team of Kylian Mbappé. He is the leader of the team on the field and anything that detracts from that is to be avoided. Deschamps already has one very large ego in his dressing room – the last thing that he needs is another one.

French squads have not always been the most harmonious at international tournaments in the past, and this is just not the right time to put the team dynamic at risk.