Down the years, great France sides have been elevated by some of the finest defenders the game has ever seen. In 1998, Aimé Jacquet had three centre-backs of genuinely world-class ability in Laurent Blanc, Frank Leboeuf and Marcel Desailly. The full-backs, Lilian Thuram and Bixente Lizarazu, weren’t too shabby either. The 1986 side had a formidable pairing at the heart of defence, too, in M...

It’s been said before but it bears repeating that when Didier Deschamps hoisted the World Cup trophy aloft in 1998, Kylian Mbappé had not yet entered the world. It really brings into sharp focus the youth of Mbappé, France’s jet-heeled wonderkid who has wowed audiences in Russia during Les Bleus’ march to the final. His development, maturity and the sheer ruthlessness with which...

There’s almost a foot in height difference between Paul Pogba and N’Golo Kanté. They look like they should be playing different sports, and yet have forged such a successful partnership at the heart of France’s midfield. Didier Deschamps has come in for some criticism about how his team has played at this World Cup, though. With the array of attacking talents that the country has at their d...

France and Belgium – two sides so similar, yet so different. Both team’s strength is in their counter-attacking prowess, but in their managers they have two extremes. There was hope for this semi-final. Hope that it would be exciting, that it might even live up to the 7-1 of four years ago, between Brazil and Germany. End-to-end stuff, basketball-esque. For periods of time, that’s what it wa...

Twenty years ago, the names of Zinedine Zidane, Emmanuel Petit and Marcel Desailly became French heroes. After their 1-0 win over Belgium on Tuesday night, in four days time, a new breed of stars get to make history. A 51st-minute header from Samuel Umtiti gave Didier Deschamps’ side a 1-0 lead, rising higher and ahead of Marouane Fellaini to guide the ball beyond Thibaut Courtois. After the only...

Loading... France will be bidding to win their second World Cup and avenge their 2016 European Championships final defeat when they take on Croatia in the World Cup final in Moscow on Sunday. Les Bleus are in their first final since 2006 and go into this game as undisputed favourites. Didier Deschamps will be hoping to become just the third person to lift the trophy as player and coach after skip...

Hang in there. This exhilarating endurance test of a World Cup is nearly over. We don’t want it to be over, of course, but there is a part of us that yearns for the weekly mundanities of the Premier League slog after having been exposed to madness in Moscow and chaos in Kazan. It’s almost been too good but, in fact, there is a distinct possibility it’s about to get even better....

Loading... France take on Belgium on Tuesday evening in the first 2018 World Cup semi final in Saint Petersburg. It will be an especially tough occasion for former Les Bleus icon Thierry Henry who is now assistant manager to Belgian coach Roberto Martínez. For Didier Deschamps and France, however, the chance to avenge defeat in the 2016 European Championships final is within sight with the team t...

France are through to the World Cup semi-finals after beating Uruguay 2-0. A Raphaël Varane header and an Antoine Griezmann pile-driver – which Uruguay goalkeeper Fernando Muslera, unfortunately, probably deserves an assist for – won it for Les Bleus. It took 40 minutes for France to first find the net, Varane heading in a Griezmann cross. And then, on the hour-mark, it was Griezmann’s turn....

Loading... France take on Uruguay on Friday afternoon in Nizhny Novgorod in the first World Cup quarter-final. The French overcame Argentina in their last-16 fixture in what was possibly game of the tournament so far, resulting in a 4-3 win for Les Bleus. The South Americans, meanwhile, dispatched Cristiano Ronaldo‘s Portugal 2-1 later the same afternoon. Our unique algorithm has predicted...

The knockout stage of the World Cup is when the competition comes to life. Forget what came before and during France’s 4-3 victory over Argentina on Saturday, we waved goodbye to the group stage. It had everything; goals, a penalty, deflections, superb performances up and down the pitch and the emergence of a youngster on the world stage. Antoine Griezmann opened the scoring after 13 minutes...

The first knockout tie to be played is the biggest – France against Argentina, two of the early favourites for the tournament, meeting in the round of 16. While Argentina will just be glad to have made the knockouts at all, France will be cursing their luck. They have talent, endless ranks of the stuff, and there was a positive feeling in France and around the world about the youthful exuberance a...

Unbeaten, with just a Mile Jedinak penalty conceded and 18 outfield players used in the group stage, France appear to be in prime shape heading into Saturday’s last 16 glamour clash against Argentina. With full-backs Benjamin Mendy and Djibril Sidibé playing in the final match of Group C against Denmark, Didier Deschamps has a fully-fit group of players to choose from ahead of the meeting with La...

One, two, three – that’s how many touches it took Lionel Messi to collect a pass over his shoulder, set himself for the shot while moving away from the tracking defender and fire high into the net from a relatively tight angle. The mark of the great Argentinean is in how easy he makes skill like this look. This, make no mistake, was not easy. The ball over the top for Messi wasn’t bad either. Pla...

Loading... France face Argentina in the last 16 of the World Cup, a mouth-watering tie which sees two thus far underwhelming favourites face off in Kazan on Saturday afternoon. Neither side has been mesmerising but the thought of Lionel Messi, Paul Pogba, Sergio Agüero, Kylian Mbappé, Gonzalo Higuaín and Antoine Griezmann – to name just  a few of the stellar  names these nations boast – sharing t...

Loading... France take on Denmark in their final Group C match at the World Cup. The French are already through following victories over Australia and Peru but would guarantee top spot with a win against the Danes. Should they do so, it could set up a tasty looking last-16 tie against Argentina depending on how Group C finishes. Our unique algorithm has predicted the France side it believes will...

With 70 minutes played and the scoreline tied at 1-1, France were in trouble. Among the favourites to win this summer’s World Cup, Les Blues were struggling to lift themselves to break down Australia in their opening group fixture. And so Didier Deschamps turned to a familiar face, introducing Olivier Giroud off the bench. For a such a modern team with such world-class talent, this was a decidedly...