France in with a chance
Les Bleus can set themselves on a course to progress nicely through this World Cup. On paper, they may just about have the best team in the world, and they also have a relatively easy group and a good chance of avoiding a really big nation until the semi-finals.
In qualifying, the French came out of a group that contained Sweden and the Netherlands, losing only one match against the Swedes. Occasionally France convinced, while at other times they looked forlorn. They pounded Holland 4-0 and then played two nil-nil draws against Luxembourg and Belarus. The coach Didier Deschamps has had to face some tough questions, but now it seems that some semblance of harmony has been found within the French squad. France's problem - albeit a luxury problem - is finding a cohesive and best first-choice 11 to play from the start. The defence now feels fairly settled after Koscielny got injured and lost his ticket to the World Cup. Umtiti and Varane are a given, as is Lloris between the sticks. Mendy and Sidibe are likely starters as full-backs
How the French midfield will line-up depends on how they will set-up for specific opponents, and how it will look is not easy to predict. They're likely to play a 4-4-2 or 4-2-3-1 formation, with something telling me that the latter option is more likely to be deployed. If it's 4-2-3-1, it's probably Pogba and Kanté in the defensive positions, Mbappe and Lemar on each side with Griezmann in a number 10 role or in a free-roaming forward role. Giroud would spearhead the attack. On the bench, names like Tolisso, Matuidi, Dembele and Fekir can be subbed-on when needed. Not a bad squad then, eh!
I think that France will proceed out of this group unthreatened and unscathed.
And what about France's group in the World Cup? There we find Denmark, Peru and Australia. Denmark is the toughest competition in what might otherwise be considered a somewhat easy group. Denmark brings a strong squad, but I still think they're a little too weak to challenge France in this group. I think that France will proceed out of this group unthreatened and unscathed. If France progresses as the first-placed team, they meet the second-placed team from Group D. Group D contains the likes of Croatia, Argentina, Nigeria and Iceland. This group has a clear hierarchy in which Argentina are likely winners and Croatia will probably come second. However, I wouldn't be surprised if Iceland squeezes into second place ahead of Croatia. Regardless, I think Argentina takes this group, leaving France in the Round of 16 and a match-up with Croatia or Iceland. Against either of these teams I think France wins.
In a quarter-final it will, of course, be a bit tougher, but its likely to be against opponents that France will be pleased with. In this match, France will meet the winner from the Round of 16 match between that will probably be contested by Portugal and Uruguay. If this is the case, these two teams are ones that France would be pleased to meet in quarter-final. Yes they're tough opponents, but we're not talking about the likes of Germany, Brazil or the like. France has everything in its favour in order to be able to mount a tough challenge against Uruguay or Portugal. Certainly, it would not be huge shock if the French lost against either of these teams, but it's not the likely outcome either.
These are, of course, hypothetical outcomes, but they are also the most likely. I assume that Spain and Argentina win their groups, and then France cannot meet either of those two teams in this half of the draw until the semi-final. In addition to Spain and Argentina, France cannot face any of the absolute top teams before the semi-final. This, in combination with France having many of the tournament's most famous names in its team, is probably good reason for betting on France to get to the semi-finals of the World Cup at odds of 5/4.
