Star-studded France among tournament’s favourites
Group D will provide a lot of excitement at the World Cup and probably the winner as it includes the defending champions, France, an efficient Denmark side, Australia and dark horses Tunisia.
On November 26, Stadium 974 in Doha will stage one of the tournament’s most anticipated matches as France clash with Denmark in a showdown between the two teams tipped to qualify from the group.
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It will be the third encounter between them in World Cup history, the French winning 2-1 en route to their first World Cup triumph on home soil in 1998 followed by a scoreless draw four years ago in Russia.
FRANCE
Since their Cinderella story of 1998, when Zinedine Zidane-inspired France to win the FIFA World Cup, they have been favourites for every tournament on account of their pedigree and the depth of their squads.
France are many a bookmaker’s favourite and this year, Les Bleus will be looking to become just the third team in history, after Italy and Brazil, to win the World Cup back-to-back, after they claimed a second trophy in Russia four years ago.
Even in the absence of supremely talented midfielder, Paul Pogba, and N’Golo Kante, who have both been ruled out due to injury, the French have quality on all fronts. And going into a tournament with Ballon dÓr winner, Karim Benzema, in the form of his life, and with Kylian Mbappe and Antoine Griezmann also key figures of the star-studded attack, there is nothing Coach Didier Deschamps’ side cannot achieve in Qatar.
As Group D in the UEFA qualifying zone, France go into their 16th tournament as the third-ranked team amid high hopes to repeat their impressive performance at the 2018 tournament. They begin their title defence against Australia – a side Le Bleus defeated 1–0 win en route to the title in Russia --- on November 22 at the Al Janoub Stadium, Al Wakrah.
From goalkeeper, Hugo Lloris, to midfield and to attack, Coach Descamps appears spoilt for choice, but they must not get carried away and implode in the manner they did in 2010 when the star-studded side crashed out at the group stage.
Key Players: Hugo Llorid, Kurt Zouma, Ibrahim Konate, Olivier Giroud, Antoine Griezmann, Karim Benzema and Kylian Mbappe.
Coach: Didier Deschamps
DENMARK
The Danes are not expected to win the tournament – best ever performance was a quarter-final finish at the 1998 tournament – but Kasper Hjulmand’s side are tipped to advance from the group into the knockout stages.
Ranked 10th on the latest FIFA rankings, Denmark qualified as Group F winners from the UEFA zone and begin their World Cup campaign with a clash with Tunisia on November 22 the Education City Stadium, Al Rayyan, after which they take on France and Australia.
Going into their sixth World Cup, Denmark will aim to improve upon their performance at the last tournament when they exited at the Round of 16. They may not boast big name players as the French do, but the ‘Red and Whites’ have some fine individual performers such as Manchester United’s Christian Eriksen, Simon Kjaer and goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel, while their biggest strength lies in a solid effort.
Key Players:
Christian Eriksen, Simon Kjaer, Kasper Schmeichel, Martin Braithwaite, Joachim Andersen.
Coach: Kasper Hjulmand
AUSTRALIA
Australia was the last team to qualify for the World Cup after winning a playoff with Peru, fifth-place team from COMNEBOL, June 13 at the Ahmad bin Ali Stadium in Al Rayyan, Qatar. They go into their sixth World Cup as one of the outsiders in the tough group.
Since the 2006 World Cup in Germany, where they exited at the Round of 16, the Socceroos have been at every competition and will be looking to improve upon their first round exit four years ago in Russia.
However, they will have to take care of very important games favourites, France, on November and against Denmark, games which could determine their fate, even though they will face Tunisia in between those two key games.
Head coach, Graham Arnold, will not have big name stars on his roster but will have to build a strong side from home-based players and others plying their trade in England, Scotland, Germany and Italy for what looks like a tough campaign in Qatar.
Key Players: Mathew Ryan, Connor Metcalfe, Jason Davidson, Jackson Irvine, James Jeggo, Nikita Rukavytsya.
Coach: Graham Arnold
TUNISIA
Tunisia are one of Africa’s five representatives who are one of the underdogs in the group and are not favoured to progress to the knockout stage.
They qualified for Qatar 2022 after winning their African zone playoffs against Mali, but their sixth World Cup campaign may not be any more successful than their previous five appearances in 1978, 1998, 2002, 2006 and 2018 where they exited the competition at the group stage.
Ranked 30th in the latest FIFA rankings, the Carthage Eagles are far from their best form going into this month competition, and local coach, Jalel Kadri, will have to produce some solid performances, if they are to survive the group.
His squad has many talented players with experience from the Tunisian, Egyptian, French, and Danish leagues. However, as a team, they must show they have the capacity to compete with the world’s elites and their opening clash with Denmark at the Education City Stadium will be a determining factor about how their campaign would shape up.
If the Carthage Eagles are to survive, Coach Jalel Kadri must inspire his side to be more adventurous than being tactically cautious, happy to soak up the pressure and hope for opportunities at set pieces or on the counter-attacks.
Key Players: Youssef Msakni, Hannibal Mejbr, Ellyes Skhiri, Taha Yassine Khenissi.
Coach: Jalel Kadri
