With English football fans continuing to bicker over Gareth Southgate’s World Cup squad, France have now announced their team for this summer’s tournament.
Already one of the favourites to become world champions in Russia, France’s squad is – as was expected – pretty impressive. In fact, a glimpse at who’s missed out on the 23-man list speaks volumes about their strength in depth.
Manchester United’s Anthony Martial is amongst those who don’t make the cut. Despite scoring 11 goals for his club this season, his lack of regular starts in recent weeks appear to have contributed to his omission. Alexandre Lacazette of Arsenal also misses out after scoring 17 goals in his first season in England. Both of these players were named on a standby list.
Bayern Munich’s Kingsley Coman is also set to miss out as things stand, as will Chelsea defender Kurt Zouma.
Suppléants :
– W. Ben Yedder
– K. Coman
– B. Costil
– M. Debuchy
– L. Digne
– A. Lacazette
– A. Martial
– A. Rabiot
– M. Sakho
– M. Sissoko
– K. Zouma— Equipe de France ⭐⭐ (@equipedefrance) May 17, 2018
Tottenham’s Hugo Lloris is expected to be Didier Deschamps first choice goalkeeper this summer. Manchester United’s Paul Pogba has been named as one of the midfielders, as has N’Golo Kante of Chelsea. Olivier Giroud, Kante’s Chelsea teammate, is the other Premier League player to feature in the squad.
France have been drawn in Group C this summer and begin their World Cup campaign against Australia on June 16. They then face Peru five days later before their final group fixture with Denmark on June 26.
