JAKARTA - France is aiming for the final victory to ensure qualify for the 2026 World Cup finals when they host Ukraine. In the Group D qualifying duel at the Parc des Princes Stadium, Friday, November 14, 2025 in the morning WIB, France is still targeting three points even though it cannot appear with the best squad.
France lost the winner of the Ballon d'Or Ousmane Dembele who was injured again when Paris Saint-Germain lost 2-1 against Bayern Munich in the Champions League match. A calf injury forced Dembele to leave the field in just 25 minutes.
Apart from Dembele, his partner at the Desire Doue club has not recovered from injury. Likewise, Inter Milan striker Marcus Thuram is still in the process of recovering. His repot, forward Kolo Muani Randall suffered an injury when Tottenham Hotspur drew 2-2 against Manchester United in the English Premier League.
Lastly, Les Bleus lost midfielder Eduardo Camavinga who suffered a hamstring injury. This Real Madrid player is not only absent against Ukraine, but when France visited Azerbaijan in Baku, Monday morning WIB.
Coach Didier Deschamps then called Khephren Thuram to replace Camavinga. The Juventus midfielder who is also Marcus Thuram's younger brother is the last player to join forces to prepare for two 2026 World Cup qualifying matches.
Losing a number of actually pillar players did not reduce the quality of the winning team at the 2018 World Cup. France still occupies the seeds to win the match.
The host factor that makes France will perform optimally, Kylian Mbappe et al also have a good record against Ukraine. In the last match at home to opponents, France won convincing 2-0.
However, Deschamps is not interested in France's impressive record. According to him, the victory in the previous match was meaningless and had an effect on the match at home.
Deschamps chose to focus on winning in the fifth match in the qualifying round to ensure tickets to the United States, Canada and Mexico.
Currently, France, which is at the top of Group D, already has a 10 point. A three-point lead with Ukraine, who is in second place. If they win, France will definitely qualify because there is only one game left.
"I am not interested in the previous match. The most important thing is the match we will face. If we succeed in qualifying, this is certainly a good thing because we can carry out our duties well in the French national team. The story will be written in this match," said Deschamps as quoted by the UEFA website.
According to Deschamps, the team always learns from every game. But there is a very important match like when facing Ukraine so it must be won.
Some games are very important for many reasons and we know this match is important because it determines opportunities to qualify. That's our target," he said.
Meanwhile, Mbappe stated firmly that France must win this match. Moreover, the European champions 1984 and 2000 played at home.
"When you play for the national team at home, you definitely don't want to lose. We have to admit that we are facing more pressure because there is a target of qualifying in this match," said Mbappe.
"So, we have to win the game so that the audience at the stadium and those watching television can smile. We play to give them pleasure," said the Real Madrid forward.
It's just that France will face stiff resistance from Ukraine who also hunt for points despite playing at home to opponents.
If they fail to become group winners, at least Ukraine hopes to rank second to get tickets to the finals through the playoffs. But Ukraine received serious threats from Iceland which trailed by three points.
"We are aware this is a crucial match. We have also prepared ourselves for this match. In the first meeting against France was an interesting match and we should have held back the draw. Because we created many chances in the second half," said coach Serhiy Rebrov.
Rebrov, who had achieved success with Hostpur while still playing, continued, 'We have analyzed the game and are trying to get points in this match.'
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