JAKARTA - The French national team will start their efforts to defend the World Cup title against Australia in the opening match of Group D at Al Janoub Stadium, Wednesday, November 23 in the morning.
Didier Deschamps' team started their journey in Qatar this year with bad luck. The reason is, some of the star players Les Bleus were hit by injuries.
The problem with the latest injury that hit France was the resignation of Karim Benzema from the squad. The Real Madrid striker had problems with his thigh so it was confirmed that he had pulled himself out of the squad.
Until now, Deschamps has yet to appoint a new striker to replace Benzema. However, the coach still has Olivier Giroud, Antoine Griezmann, Kylian Mbappe, and Ousmane Dembele stock upfront.
The injury also haunted France's backline after information emerged that Raphael Varane was not fit. However, the Manchester United player may be able to appear with Ibrahima Konate and Dayot Upamecano in the back row.
Meanwhile, Eduardo Camavinga, who missed Sunday's drills, is likely to stay fine in the early hours of the morning.
Apart from facing reality with the absence of several important names, Les Bleus is also haunted by their nightmare with their status as defending champions. The reason is, the three champions who defended before them, namely Italy, Spain, and Germany, always failed in the group stage in the next tournament.
France may remain a favorite because of their line-up of star players. Hugo Lloris and his friends are predicted to repeat the success in Russia four years ago as well as break the myth above, but after the victory against Croatia in the final in Russia four years ago, their performance declined.
This was proven by their journey to only reach the last 16 of the European Cup last year despite successfully adding to the UEFA Nations League trophy. In other facts, they also almost relegated to the League B of the competition after this year's disappointing journey.
With this unsatisfactory journey, France must try to stem Socceroos from coming with the aim of ending the record three times in a row eliminated in the group stage.
Forecast of French vs Australian line-up:
France (4-2-3-1): Lloris; Pavard, Upamecano, Konate, Lucas Hernandez; Tchouameni, Rabiot; Dembele, Griezmann, Mbappe; Giroud
Australia (4-3-3): Ryan; Atkinson, Wright, Rowles, Behich; Hrastic, Mooy, Irvine; Leckie, Duke,
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