Not a big fan of this convoluted process? Neither did Didier Deschamps. The coach of the France team Didier Deschamps estimated on Friday that the draw for the 2026 World Cup qualifiers did not offer “visibility” while the Blues will have to wait for the result of their quarter-final of the Nations League in March to know the exact identity of their opponents.
If the vice-world champions eliminate Croatia, on March 20 and 23, and obtain their ticket for the “Final Four” of the League of Nations, they will be opposed, in a group of four, to Ukraine, the Iceland and Azerbaijan from September to November. In the event of elimination, they will be placed in a group of five with the Czech Republic, Montenegro, the Faroe Islands and Gibraltar from June to November.
“We have seven potential opponents with different profiles. We know a little more but we don’t know everything yet. It’s complicated for many people to understand the draw. There is less visibility compared to what there was before, but the key word is to adapt,” reacted Didier Deschamps who will try to validate his ticket for a seventh final phase in a row at the head of the Blues.
“Problematic” team supervision
The French technician also indicated that he had no preference for the two options. And above all, don’t want to play the double confrontation against Croatia depending on the two possibilities offered by the draw.
“We are not going to play the quarter-final of the Nations League to be either in the group of five or in the group of four,” he explained. This will have an impact, but what is more problematic is the supervision of these teams since it will take a lot of people to see our potential opponents. But it is the particularity of this draw which is not completely decisive. »
