World Cup 2022: France has the firepower to pull off a rare repeat
By David Mosse
FOX Sports Soccer Researcher
Editor's note: The 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar begins Nov. 21, 2022, only on FOX networks. All this week, we'll have stories and videos counting down to the one-year-out mark.
France will be in Qatar one year from now, defending their World Cup crown, which is certainly no surprise, given that they entered the last set of group matches needing only a home victory over Kazakhstan to secure qualification.
Les Bleus left nothing to chance with an 8-0 demolition at the Parc des Princes featuring four goals from Kylian Mbappe in front of his (for how much longer?) home fans.
Regardless of which club Mbappe is representing next November, it seems clear that he’ll be spearheading the most talented squad at the World Cup. In a preposterous case of the rich getting richer, he’s now joined in the attack by not only Antoine Griezmann but also Karim Benzema, who found the back of the net three times in two games in this latest international break.
N’Golo Kante and Paul Pogba are still around to control the midfield, and Raphael Varane will again anchor a back line that could include emerging youngsters Jules Kounde and Dayot Upamecano.
It’s enough to make you wonder whether anyone else stands a chance in Qatar, but the rest of the field can draw strength from France’s stunning exit in the round of 16 at the Euros and, more importantly, the remarkable recent trend of defending World Cup champions being unable to survive the group stage.
The past three defending champs — Italy (2010), Spain (2014) and Germany (2018) — all crashed out early. And one common denominator is that each boasted the same manager from their previous triumph. It might seem counterintuitive to suggest that a country should change coaches after winning the World Cup, but the fact is that only one manager has lifted the trophy twice: Italy’s Vittorio Pozzo in 1934 and 1938. Brazil, the last nation to win consecutive World Cups, employed different managers in 1958 (Vicente Feola) and 1962 (Aymore Moreira).
France’s biggest question might just be Didier Deschamps. Can he avoid the mistakes made by his predecessors, such as too much loyalty to the players involved in the previous triumph or stubborn adherence to the style of play that worked four years earlier?
Deschamps has more than enough talent at his disposal. But history is not on his side.
Here are some additional news and notes from European qualifying:
Portugal's peril
One manager very much under fire is Fernando Santos after Portugal suffered a stunning home defeat to Serbia, squandering automatic qualification.
Portugal’s fate will now be decided in the playoffs in March, and failure to reach Qatar would be truly remarkable, given the talent on hand.
Santos deserves credit for guiding Portugal to the Euro 2016 crown, a tournament in which he adopted an ultra-pragmatic approach to overcome his squad’s limitations. But since then, he has struggled to adapt to the emergence of players such as Bernardo Silva, Bruno Fernandes, Diogo Jota and Joao Felix. Portugal have turned into a team whose whole doesn’t add up to the sum of its parts.
A squad with those four players, plus Ruben Dias, Joao Cancelo and, oh by the way, Cristiano Ronaldo simply cannot miss out on a World Cup.
Italy in trouble, too
Italy’s predicament is no less surprising. Just a few months after capturing the European crown and setting an international record with their 37-match unbeaten run, the Azzurri find themselves in serious danger of missing out on a second straight World Cup.
Roberto Mancini’s side has yet to suffer defeat in this qualifying campaign, but drawing four of their eight games relegated them to second in the group behind Switzerland, which means they’re also headed to the playoffs.
The big question is, if Italy earn a penalty in March, will it be Jorginho, who missed in both group matches against Switzerland, stepping up to take it?
Criticism for … Zlatan?
Spain punched their ticket to the World Cup thanks to a hard-fought 1-0 victory over Sweden, with the lone goal courtesy of Alvaro Morata.
The Swedes, who are headed to the playoffs, were left to rue a costly defeat to Georgia three days earlier, and much of the criticism is being directed at Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who didn’t exactly cover himself in glory in the last two games.
The 40-year-old was largely ineffective in 90 minutes against Georgia. He then came on in the second half against Spain with the match still scoreless, and not only did Ibrahimovic fail to provide a spark, but he also picked up a needless yellow card, which means he’s suspended for the playoff semifinal.
Given that Sweden reached the quarterfinals of the previous World Cup without him, some in the Swedish media are beginning to question whether Zlatan's international comeback made much sense after all.
Haaland left out
Another Scandinavian striker who will definitely miss out on the next World Cup is Erling Haaland after Norway finished third in their group behind the Netherlands and Turkey.
An injury prevented Haaland from featuring in the last two games, a damaging scoreless draw against Latvia and the 2-0 defeat to the Dutch that sealed their fate.
Norway haven’t appeared in a World Cup since 1998, and there is already concern that Haaland’s career might go the way of players such as George Best and George Weah, who, due to the country they were born in, were never able to showcase their talents on the ultimate stage.
David Mosse is a soccer researcher and writer for FOX Sports. He has covered multiple FIFA World Cups, and he also serves as cohost of Alexi Lalas’ State of the Union Podcast.