These are the countries against which France will defend the World Cup title

Tuesday, November 8, 2022 at 10:00 PM•
Bart D’Hanis• Last update: 23:59

The 22nd edition of the World Cup is about to begin. Starting November 20, 32 countries will battle it out in Qatar for the coveted title. Players from the Netherlands, Belgium, France and Brazil are known to the general public, but how are countries like Australia, South Korea and Serbia faring? In this section look Soccer field by group before the World Cup and during the fourth edition, it is the turn of group D, which includes France, defending champion. The other countries in this group are Australia, Denmark and Tunisia.

By Bart D’Hanis

France
France will start this World Cup as defending champions. In 2018, the country beat Croatia in the final to win the cup. The important players of this tournament were Paul Pogba (Juventus), N’Golo Kanté (Chelsea) and Raphaël Varane (Manchester United). The first two will not be part of the French selection anyway due to injury. Van Varane does not yet know if he will be recovered in time. Also for Theo Hernández (AC Milan), Jules Koundé (Barcelona), Karim Benzema (Real Madrid) and Wesley Fofana (Chelsea), being fit for the first game of the World Cup is a race against time. Luckily for Deschamps, he has plenty of alternatives to choose from. Midfielders Aurélien Tchouaméni and Eduardo Camavinga (both from Real Madrid) are knocking on the door of the France team. If Benzema is unable to start the first game of the World Cup in the starting XI, the national coach can choose from names such as Olivier Giroud (AC Milan) and Christopher Nkunku (RB Leipzig).

The World Cup in Qatar is the sixteenth in the history of France. The French have won the tournament twice. The first time in 1998 and twenty years later again in 2018. After the World Cup in 2018, France was also present at the European Championship in 2021. This campaign was much less successful. In the last sixteen, Blues lesson sent off on penalties by Switzerland. Also in the League of Nations, France was anything but impressive. In the group with Denmark, which will also be an opponent at the World Cup in Qatar, the Frenchman even finished third. Besides Denmark, Croatia were also in better shape. During this Nations League campaign, France even lost twice against Denmark. However, qualifying for the World Cup went well. The Frenchman became first in the group with Ukraine and Finland, among others, and didn’t lose once in eight games. France will play first against Australia in Qatar on November 22. A reunion with Fear Gegner Denmark is scheduled for November 26. The group will end on November 30 with a match against Tunisia.

Australia
Australia is not really known as a football country. Thus, most of the names in the selection of the Socceroos don’t ring a bell. With an average age of 27.5 years, the Australian roster is relatively old. This is partly due to ex-Premier League players Matthew Ryan (FC Copenhagen) and Aaron Mooy (Celtic), both already in their thirties. The squad for the World Cup in Qatar has already been announced. A notable name on the list is eighteen-year-old Garang Kuol (Central Coast Mariners). The young striker has only played one international match to his name but still secured a seat on the plane to Qatar. In fact, the teenager is so talented that he will move to England after the World Cup, where he will continue to develop at Newcastle United. Bad news for Australia, however, the ankle injury of Ajdin Hrustic (Hellas Verona). The former FC Groningen player has so far made twenty international appearances for the national team. It’s still unclear if the midfielder will appear at the start of the first game.

Australia is number 38 in the FIFA rankings. The country is taking part in a World Cup in Qatar for the sixth time. This year is also the fifth consecutive time that the Socceroos be present at the world championship. Of those four previous World Cups, only 2006 survived the group stage. Australia qualified for the World Cup in a group with Asian countries. National coach Graham Arnold’s team, who has been active as a player in the Netherlands for Roda JC and NAC Breda, came third in the group. Japan and Saudi Arabia were one size too big and so Australia had to secure the coveted World Cup ticket via a play-off against Peru. This was eventually achieved through penalties. Australia also played three exhibition games ahead of the World Cup. Two against New Zealand and one against Jordan. All three exhibition games were won. Australia will face France on November 22. Tunisia will then be the adversary on 26 November. On November 30, the Australians will face Denmark.

Denmark
Denmark is one of the underdogs at the World Cup in Qatar. The Danes have a great squad and are injury-free. In defense, national coach Kasper Hjulmand can have Simon Kjaer (AC Milan), Andreas Christensen (Barcelona) and Joachim Maehle (Atalanta) at his disposal. For midfield, Christian Eriksen (Manchester United) and Pierre-Emile Højbjerg (Tottenham Hotspur) are real options. The goals will have to be scored for the Danes by ex-Ajacied Kasper Dolberg (Sevilla), Mikkel Damsgaard (Brentford) and Andreas Skov Olsen (Club Bruges). The latter in particular has been in great shape at his club this season. He has six goals and two assists in fourteen games in the league. The young winger is also making a strong impression in the national team. He has already scored eight times in just 23 international appearances.

Like Australia, Denmark will take part in a World Cup for the sixth time this year. In 2018, the Danes were also present. Then they were eliminated by Croatia on penalties. The Croats were also Denmark’s opponents in this year’s Nations League. The Danes managed to become top of the group with France, Croatia and Austria. France even won twice. The fact that Denmark are in good form is also evident from the World Cup qualifying series. In the group comprising Scotland, Israel and Austria, the Danes have won no less than nine games out of ten. Denmark also played two exhibition games this year. The game against the Netherlands was lost 4-2. However, the Danes won against Serbia: 3-0. Last year at the European Championships, Denmark managed to surprise friends and foes alike by reaching the semi-finals of the tournament. In the first game against Finland, Eriksen collapsed, which seemed to further motivate the Danish team. In the semi-finals, however, England were too strong 2-1. Denmark kicks off its World Cup on November 22 with a match against Tunisia. On November 26, France will be the opponent. The group stage will end on November 30 with a match against Australia.

Tunisia
Just like in the Australian selection, there are no very famous names at number thirty in the FIFA World Rankings. Omar Rekik (Arsenal), who plays for Sparta Rotterdam on loan, is injured and must miss the World Cup. Who will most likely play for Tunisia this World Cup is Wahbi Khazri (Montpellier). The striker has scored 24 goals in 74 international appearances for Tunisia. Khazri has also been accurate twice in Ligue 1. National coach Jalel Kadri will also take 19-year-old Hannibal Mejbri (Manchester United) to the World Cup. The talent on loan at Birmingham City was also part of the selection in the last international game and was even allowed in twice. Apart from Rekik, national coach Kadri has few injury problems with his squad.

It is also the sixth time for Tunisia that it can be admired during a World Cup. The previous five times, the knockout stage had not been reached and the tournament was already stuck in the group stage. Tunisia managed to win the qualifying group for the World Cup in Qatar. Tunisia finished first in the group along with Equatorial Guinea, Zambia and Mauritania. The ten winners of the groups competed in a diptych to share the five World Cup tickets. In this diptych, Tunisia was 0-1 too strong for Mali. Tunisia also played a number of exhibition matches for the World Cup. For example, the Comoros won 1-0 and the Tunisians lost 5-1 against Brazil. Tunisia will play its first game against Denmark on November 22. Australia and France will be the opponents on November 26 and 30, respectively.