In What shape are France ahead of the World Cup?

France are the defending World Cup champions, but, although they still rank among the favourites to win the trophy again in Qatar, injuries and other behind-the-scenes issues have hindered their preparations. They still have one of the most talented squads of any team in the competition, but they are not necessarily the most harmonious.

They have a history in this respect. The side that reached the final in 2006 returned from South Africa four years later finishing bottom of their group with just a single point, and the squad fractured by rows and mutinies against their coach at the time, Raymond Domenech.

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The backdrop this time around is scarcely more promising. Noel Le Graet, who is the head of the French Football Federation, is being investigated for sexual harassment by the country’s Sports Ministry.

Meanwhile, the country’s star player Kylian Mbappé has become embroiled in a dispute with the FFF over image rights and refused to participate in promotional campaigns involving major fast food and gambling corporate sponsors (despite himself being a major investor in an NFT company).

More unwelcome headlines were created when Mathias, the brother of midfielder Paul Pogba, was arrested, along with three other men, accused of trying to blackmail the former Manchester United star, amidst allegations that witchcraft was also involved.

Even though France will miss Pogba’s skills on the field, they may be glad that he won’t be at the World Cup because he didn’t recover from a knee injury in time.

In fact, France may have had more injuries than many other teams before the tournament, especially in the midfield. In addition to Pogba, N’Golo Kanté has been ruled out of Qatar with hamstring problems, whilst goalkeeper Mike Maignan’s calf injury ended his hopes of being part of the squad.

Manchester United defender Raphael Varane is another one whose World Cup hopes ended early.

Even without their injury issues, France have been in poor form recently. They had lost three out of their last four games, winning just once, and finished third in their Nations League group.

The French, though, are naturally pessimistic about their national team and did not have high hopes for the team that would go on to lift the trophy four years ago. Karim Benzema, the recently crowned Ballon d’Or winner was not part of that squad, banned by the national team for his own part in an off-the-field scandal.

But he is now back in the set-up and, with Mbappé, forms part of the most formidable forward line-up in the tournament.

For manager Didier Deschamps, this is likely to be his swansong on the international stage. He wants to return to club football, with Zinedine Zidane waiting in the wings seemingly ready to succeed him.

Whilst he would dearly love to cement his legacy – he is only one of three men in history to have both captained and managed a World Cup-winning team – it would seem that the odds are stacked against him this time.