A well-known opponent, a Maghreb country where many players evolve or have passed through the L1 and a play-off… Here is the menu of the Blues for the World Cup in Qatar. Zoom on the future opponents of the Blues.
Denmark, a habit for France
Ranked 11th in the latest FIFA rankings, Denmark is a regular opponent of the France team. It will indeed be the 7th time that the two countries will face each other in the final phase of a major competition after the Euros 1984 and 1992, and the World Cups 1998, 2002 and 2018). A good omen? Because the two times when France won the World Cup, it had crossed Denmark in the group stage. The Blues will be entitled to a double repetition since they will play against the Danes on June 3 and September 25 in the League of Nations. Denmark will play its 7th World Cup with the best result of a quarter-final in 1998. In 2018, the Danes were eliminated in the round of 16 on penalties by Croatia, future finalist against the France team. Denmark will play their 7th World Cup, and their best result remains a quarter-final in 1998.
At the last Euro, Denmark seduced, reaching the semi-finals against England (1-2). Kasper Hjulmand’s team continued on this good momentum by chaining 7 victories in 9 games. She flew over her qualifying group which included Scotland and Austria with 9 wins in 10 games, and only 3 goals conceded. Denmark relies on a well-established and united collective, which gives it a little extra soul as we saw during Christian Eriksen’s heart attack during his first Euro match on June 12. After several months of absence and the break of a defibrillator, the attacking midfielder has been playing with his new club Brentford since the end of February. He has just found the selection and scored in friendly matches against the Netherlands (2-4) and Serbia (3-0).
Tunisia with several knowledge of L1
Quarter-finalists of the CAN in January, Tunisia qualified for the play-offs against Mali. After his victory in Bamako (1-0) thanks to a goal from Sissako (ex-PSG) against his camp, the Carthage Eagles managed the return match well on Tuesday in a Radès stadium on fire (0-0). It had been a long time since the Tunisian public had experienced such an atmosphere for a match of their national team. Thousands of people had remained at the gates of the stadium and the qualification was celebrated for a long time during the night in Tunis and elsewhere. After 1978, 1998, 2002, 2006, 2018, Tunisia will participate for the 6th time in a final phase of the World Cup. She never managed to qualify for the second round.
In the team, there are several players who play in France, starting with Wahbi Khazri (Saint-Étienne), its attacking leader who was injured for the two play-off games against Mali, Dylan Bronn (Metz), Ali Abdi ( Caen) or others who have known L1 like Naïm Sliti (ex Lille, Dijon). “This draw, I was talking about it with my wife and my brothers, that’s what I wanted, launched Khazri on RMC. I’m very happy. These are the favourites. We are far from it. But playing in the French Championship, having grown up here, it is the dream of many players to face them in the World Cup. France is the overwhelming favourite. The other opponents are teams within our reach. We have a good midfield. We are able to be solid defensively. In front we have talented players. We have a homogeneous group. »
But the star of the team remains captain Youssef Msakni (31) who plays for Al Arabi (Qatar). After missing the 2018 edition due to a cruciate ligament rupture, the striker will participate in his first World Cup. In recent years, Tunisia has also convinced several binational players to opt for its selection. This is particularly the case of Hannibal Mejbri (19 years old), the nugget of Manchester United, trained at Paris FC, ex-French international in U16 and U17 who chose to evolve for the country of his parents since the month of last June. Since then, it has become a real icon in Tunisia and the Maghreb. Appointed in place of Mondher Kebaier after the CAN, his deputy Jalel Kadri led the Carthage Eagles during the double confrontation against Mali. But he has not yet been officially renewed for the World Cup by his Federation.
Peru, Australia or the United Arab Emirates … A roadblocker on the way to the Blues
The France team will have to wait until June to find out their last opponent. She will play against the winner of a play-off which will see Peru face the winner of Australia – United Arab Emirates. Fifth in the South American zone thanks to its victory against Paraguay (2-0), Peru has therefore won the right to play in these play-offs. In 2018, Rojiblanca also qualified for the World Cup after a victorious play-off against New Zealand. She had already crossed paths with the France team during the second group match, on June 21, 2018 at the central stadium in Yekaterinburg. The Blues had won 1-0 thanks to a goal from Kylian Mbappé (34th).
But Peru will have to dismiss the United Arab Emirates or Australia who finished 3rd in their group in their Asia zone. The Emirati winners of South Korea (1-0), Tuesday in Dubai, doubled Iraq hung (1-1) in Syria. Australia was overtaken by Japan and Saudi Arabia.
