Former France central defender Marcel Desailly believes Didier Deschamps’ team are the favourites to win the 2026 World Cup.
Ex Chelsea centre-back Desailly finds it hard to work out where a challenge could come from as the French side look like the team to beat ahead of Thursday evening’s quarter-final clash with Morocco (kick-off 9pm UK time).
He even suggested that Kylian Mbappe can already consider himself the greatest French striker of all time.
However, Desailly cautioned that one problem for the side is a potential vulnerability at left-back, and tipped Lucas Digne to be the man to hold down the position.
France look unstoppable
During an exclusive conversation with sportscasting.com, Desailly said: “The impression that we have now, it’s a big yes – Who is going to stop France?
“Germany, they’ve been poor and have been eliminated. A massive under-performance.
“It is France who is showing great ability. France have been the ‘wow’ team at the tournament so far – they’ve looked much better than the rest.
“If there are no injuries, France is going to win the World Cup. I have no doubt about it.”
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Simply the best
Mbappe has secured his spot among the 2026 World Cup Golden Boot contenders, alongside Lionel Messi, Erling Haaland and England captain Harry Kane.
Desailly added to the conversation that: “Mbappé has managed to become the best striker ever in the French national team, he broke that record at this World Cup, which is an astonishing achievement after a poor club season.
“Can you imagine having a poor season where you don’t lift a trophy, but you still manage to score 40 odd goals? That is really something.
“I think it’s amazing that people still want to criticise him, but he’s showing great leadership.”
Weakness at left-back
When assessing the French team, Desailly feels they are an impressive unit, stating: “The only weakness comes at left-back.
“[Jules] Koundé is not really a problem, because if he’s not capable of producing in the attacking third, at least he knows how to defend and he’s smart enough.
“Lucas Hernandez goes both ways – his defensive skills are not up to what we are expecting, and his delivery is also not quite up to what we really want.
“That’s why Deschamps will go for Digne, who is not a better player than Hernandez overall, but at least he is capable of being very strong on the defensive side.”
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Michael Davey