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Don’t believe France can win the 2018 FIFA World Cup? Here’s three good reasons to change your mind.
Divine coincidence?
Didier Deschamps marshalling his troops in search of a monumental triumph.
The French campaign held together by an immigrant midfielder known for his mercurial tantrums.
A tight final Group C match between France and Denmark, which allows both teams to qualify to the next round.
Brazil, starting as favourites and rampaging through the early part of the tournament, England finishing second in Group G leading to a feisty round-of-16 encounter with a South American side that is eventually settled through penalties, all in a year in which Real Madrid proved their continental superiority.
Well, you can be forgiven if you believed I was talking of the 2018 World Cup. But extraordinarily, all of the above were key features from 20 years back when France lifted the trophy for the first time and eerily enough, history seems to be intent on repeating itself – at least so far.
So, any takers for a quick wager on the Les Bleus? Well, you wouldn’t want to bet against the universe. And in case you are still skeptical, just ask the Italians who experienced a sense of déjà vu in the last world cup held on European soil: match-fixing scandals, corruption allegations, and top teams being relegated were common phenomenon and perhaps ironically, the reason for the success of both the 1982 and 2006 world cup winning teams.
The squad
And yes, of course, there’s the little matter of football itself.
France seems to have the most balanced squad in the tournament – bona fide superstars in the form of Paul Pogba and Antoinne Griezmann, a powerful attack comprising Mbele and Giroud, a robust back line that can be chosen from amongst Raphael Varane, Samuel Umtiti, Benjamin Mendy and Laurent Koscielny; a holding midfielder in Ngolo Kante who can dominate and blunt opponents, and a reliable goalkeeper in Hugo Lloris.
The stability
If the games so far are any indication, they seem to be peaking at the right time. They have been comfortable against teams that like to attack, which could be seen in the manner France wrested control of the Argentina tie after falling behind, or squads that like to sit back and defend, when they eased through the group stage.
The stability and assurance brought in by Deschamps (whoever needs to be reminded of the mess that happened at the 2010 world cup) through his minimalistic management style and the respect he commands as a man who has “been there and done that” has been critical.
And this may well be the year when it pays dividends big time, albeit with a small help from the Universe!
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