France eye a third World Cup win, and their second in as many editions, when they square off against Argentina, also two-time winners, in the final at the Lusail Stadium on Sunday.
France has advanced to its fourth World Cup final in seven tournaments, and Didier Deschamps has played a crucial role in all of it. France has become accustomed to winning on the world stage. Four years ago, in Russia, Deschamps led Les Bleus to their second World Cup victory after winning it as a player in 1998. The success of France under Deschamps has been greatly attributed to players like Olivier Giroud, Antoine Griezmann, and Kylian Mbappe.
Here’s France’s road to the FIFA World Cup final:
Group StageGroup D consisted of France, Australia, Denmark, and Tunisia.Graig Goodwin gave Australia a 1-0 lead after just 10 minutes of their first match, shocking France. To change the course of the game, Giroud scored twice after Adrien Rabiot had tied it up for Les Bleus. The game ended with France winning 4-1 thanks to Mbappe’s decisive strike.The holders won the following game, 2-1, thanks to goals from Mbappe on either side of an Andreas Christensen goal for Denmark.Even though Deschamps’ team’s advancement to the next round was practically guaranteed, Tunisia shocked them 0-1 in their final group encounter.
Round of 16 (France vs Poland)When Poland arrived for the Round of 16 match, Mbappe once more stepped up. As the nation’s all-time leading scorer, Olivier Giroud had given France a 1-0 lead with his goal, surpassing Thierry Henry. Mbappe added two more goals for France to extend their lead in the second half.Even though Poland’s Robert Lewandowski scored his first World Cup knockout goal, the result was a 3-1 victory for France, making it nothing more than a consolation for Poland.
Quarter-Final (France vs England)France then took on England, perhaps their biggest test of the tournament so far. Prior to Harry Kane’s penalty kick goal to equalise the game at halftime, France had taken the lead thanks to an incredible shot by Aurelie Tchouameni. Giroud’s goal in the second half gave France their slim lead back and brought his tournament total to four. Once more, England had a great opportunity to tie the score from the penalty spot, but Kane missed his attempt, allowing France to secure progression.
Semi-Final (France vs Morocco)Morocco were high in confidence after pulling off back-to-back upsets in the previous rounds against Spain and Portugal, respectively. However, France had other ideas. Despite failing to dominate the game, Les Bleus were clinical enough to register a 2-0 win. Theo Hernandez had put France ahead in the first-half, before Randal Kolo Muani scored minutes after coming off the bench to end Morocco’s dream run.
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