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Paul Pogba and N’Golo Kante have been essential midfield partners for France for the last few years. They were the ones who carried their midfield line, and the ones that won the World Cup together four years.
But since then, and especially in the last couple of years, things have changed, to some evolved, to others the other way around. Pogba has been struggling with injuries and form, he left Manchester United this past summer to rejoin Juventus, but soon after suffered another injury setback that left him without a chance to recover in time for the World Cup.
N’Golo Kante has been one of the most popular France players over the years, his humanity, modesty, and fighting spirit brought a lot of people on his side, from his country to the Chelsea faithful. Unfortunately, injuries derailed his season in a big way, he featured in only two Premier League games this season, and his return from injury is not currently known.
Who will Didier Deschamps choose to replace Pogba and Kante?
Many suggest that the midfield is now the weakest link in France’s squad for the World Cup, even though there are some terrific players on Deschamp’s list. The most experienced one is Adrien Rabiot who is 27 years old and has accumulated 29 caps for his country. Next to him, there will be Matteo Guendouzi, Youssouf Fofana, Jordan Veretout, and the Real Madrid duo of Aurelien Tchouameni and Eduardo Camavinga.
The latter two could be the key for France. Tchouameni is 22 years old, two years Camavinga’s senior, and for obvious reasons has more appearances for his country at 14. Camavinga has only two, but he is just starting. Both of those players are important for Real Madrid, even though Camavinga doesn’t start games too often. He is still being molded into a player that will eventually replace Luka Modric and/or Toni Kroos in the Real Madrid lineup.
It is doubtful that both Tchouameni and Camavinga will be starters for France at the World Cup, but it is a certainty that they will feature heavily, especially if the ones at the start of the pecking order are not performing as Deschamps would expect it from them.
Tchouameni has been prominent in the France lineup this calendar year, and it is obvious that Deschamps is grooming him to take over the midfield helm in the national team.
“I am a starter at Real Madrid, so in terms of confidence, it’s at a high level. But the pressure will be there because it is my first World Cup for France,” Tchouameni said recently.
The midfield will be important for France as always, but the younger players will be backed by some experienced teammates who went through the winning campaign four years ago. Hugo Lloris will be the ever-trusting goalkeeper, while players like Karim Benzema, a Balon d’Or winner recently, with Olivier Giroud and Raphael Varane give the team additional confidence.
France will open their World Cup campaign against Australia on Tuesday, four days later they will face Denmark, and their last opponent in the group stage will be Tunisia.
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