What France stars have been ruled out of World Cup by injury?
Karan Tejwani
- 21 Nov 2022 09:15 GMT
- 3 min read
France’s World Cup defence has hit a major problem in recent weeks due to the abundance of injuries in their possible selections and that has created several doubts.
Didier Deschamps has had to make several changes to his team – even after announcing his initial list of players – and that has perhaps reduced their chances of retaining their title.
In recent weeks, Les Bleus’ midfield options has taken a major hit, and other areas of the squad have also majorly been affected.
READ: Karim Benzema OUT: The players missing the World Cup due to injury
Now, they are the nation that are arguably most affected out of all the World Cup favourites and they can almost make a team of injured players that could go all the way themselves.
Related articles
Big losses for France
The biggest losses to France has been their World Cup-winning midfield duo of Paul Pogba and N’Golo Kante, both of whom lost a race against time to be fit.
Pogba hasn’t played for Juventus all season and delayed his surgery which has proven to be costly as he is now set to miss the World Cup.
READ: Tchouameni IN, Camavinga OUT: How will France line up at the 2022 World Cup?
Kante has had a year troubled by injuries with Chelsea and hasn’t been at his best, and is now set to miss the World Cup having won it last time.
Further up top, the biggest loss will be that of Karim Benzema, the reigning Ballon d’Or holder, who went to Qatar with injury and has now been ruled out after inflaming it.
Christopher Nkunku had a similar tale – he picked up an injury in training in France and backed out of the squad just before they flew out to the Middle East.
De ma vie je n’ai jamais abandonné mais ce soir il faut que je pense à l’équipe comme je l’ai toujours fait alors la raison me dit de laisser ma place à quelqu’un qui pourra aider notre groupe à faire une belle Coupe du Monde. Merci pour tous vos messages de soutien 🙌🏼❤️ pic.twitter.com/SBalX0juAH
— Karim Benzema (@Benzema) November 19, 2022
Presnel Kimpembe is another miss for them having been a part of the winning squad last time around and he will be a miss at the back, especially given Raphael Varane’s fitness concerns.
In goal, Mike Maignan wasn’t picked as he suffered with injury problems for Milan this season, but luckily for France, they have captain Hugo Lloris.
