The World Cup in Qatar is finally here, with football fans having to wait an extra few months for the 2022 renewal of the tournament as it’s the first to ever be held in the winter months due to the extreme heat of the Middle East during the summer months.
The timing of the World Cup has been heavily criticised, as it falls in the middle of the European domestic season — meaning a lot of players lucky enough to be selected to represent their countries are heading to Qatar with fatigue, while many other high-profile names have missed out completely due to untimely injuries.Â
Defending world champions France are one of the worst hit nations, with manager Didier Deschamps dealt an injury list the length of his arm. As a result, Les Bleus have fallen back to the third favourites in the World Cup winner betting — coming in to the market behind Brazil and Argentina.Â
There’s no doubt that France’s defence of the sought-after trophy has been made harder by their injuries, especially as they have fierce competition for the top spot in Group D from a confident Denmark side. That said, let’s take a look at the players missing out on taking part in Qatar.
N’Golo Kante
One of the more concerning absentees — if not the biggest loss for Deschamps — N’Golo Kante will play no part for France in the Middle East. The Chelsea midfielder was a key factor in Les Bleus winning their second World Cup title in Russia four years ago, starting in all seven games en route to glory, but the 31-year-old has been out of action with a hamstring injury since August and hasn’t recovered in time for Qatar.Â
Paul Pogba
It goes from bad to worse for the France manager, as he’s without his World Cup-winning midfield partnership — with Paul Pogba also sidelined with an injury. The recipient of the Young Player of the Tournament award in Brazil eight years ago, Pogba was another major influence at Russia 2018 — even scoring in the final against Croatia. But he’s been out with a knee injury since the summer, meaning he hasn’t even made his second debut for Juventus since returning on a free transfer.
Presnel Kimpembe
An absentee in central defence, Presnel Kimpembe made the decision to rule himself out of the World Cup as he claimed his health comes first after latest tests on his hamstring showed that he ‘wouldn’t be able to perform to 200%.’ With 28 caps to his name, the 27-year-old centre-back captained Les Bleus in some of their recent Nations League encounters and will be big loss in defence as France lose a bit of backing in the World Cup predictions. Â
Christopher Nkunku
While minutes might have been limited for Christopher Nkunku in Qatar, as he would have had to vie with the world class Kylian Mbappe and Karim Benzema for a place in attack, it’s still a massive shame for one of the most promising stars in the game to miss a World Cup in which he could prove himself. The 25-year-old, who has been linked with the likes of Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester United, was injured in France’s first training session in the Middle East as he appeared to be caught by Real Madrid’s Eduardo Camavinga.Â
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