The World Cup is just four months away. With each passing week, we'll preview two of the 32 competitors leading up to the biggest tournament on the planet.
The French were once among the top soccer nations in the world. Life has not been so great since 2006, but the nation has a lot of reasons to believe that it can make a deep run in this tournament.
History
France participated in the first ever World Cup back in 1930 but finished seventh in the tournament with one win and two losses. Four years later the team finished ninth in Italy with one loss. In 1938, the nation hosted the tournament and managed to get to the quarterfinal with one win and one loss.
The nation qualified for the 1938 tournament but withdrew; France then finished 11th in 1954 before finishing third in 1958 with four wins and two losses. The team also managed a shocking 23 goals; it also conceded 15 times in that tournament.
The team only qualified once in the next four tournaments (1966) but could not get out of the group stage. In 1978 France finished 12th while in 1982 the nation finished fourth in the tournament with three wins, two draws and two losses. In Mexico's' 1986 tournament, France finished third for a second time in its history.
However, the nation failed to qualify for the following two tournaments.
Those poor displays were completely nullified when the nation hosted the tournament in 1998 and the Zinedane Zidane-led side took down Brazil 3-0 at home in the final. The defending champs were embarrassed four years later when they finished 28th in the tournament with one draw and two losses. The team redeemed itself four years later with a second place finish in Germany but the cycle of embarrassment repeated itself when France was eliminated in the group round in South Africa with a record of one draw and two losses.
How They Got Here
France was drawn into Group I of the UEFA qualifiers and had to compete with Spain, Finland, Georgia and Belarus. Things got off to a solid start for France when it took down Finland 1-0 in its opening match and then followed that with a 3-1 destruction of Belarus at home. The team then stunned the world when it managed a last gasp tie against Spain in Madrid. It seemed that for the moment, France was in charge of the group as it could easily take first place with a win at home a few months later.
A 1-1 draw for Spain against Finland coupled with a 3-1 win for France over Georgia seemed to give the French complete control over the group but a 1-0 win for Spain in France ended the team's hopes of winning the group. A 0-0 draw at Georgia only hurt the nation's chances further. Wins over Finland and Belarus in the final two group games did little to ease the pain.
As a second place side, France was forced to take on the Ukrainians in a two-legged playoff. The era of embarrassment for France threatened to continue when it lost 2-0 in the first leg, but the team managed a 3-0 win at home to qualify for the tournament.
Star Players
France's top star is Frank Ribery. The Ballon d'Or finalist has a tendency to show up for big games and managed five goals for France during qualifying. He has accomplished everything with Bayern Munich and will be primed for a big tournament, probably his last big chance to make his name for France.
Real Madrid's Karim Benzema will need to improve his play for his nation if he hopes to start ahead of Arsenal main man Olivier Giroud. Both forwards have struggled for their respective clubs and could become liabilities for their nations.
Laurent Koscielny is the leader of France's defense and will need to be in peak form if this team is to make a deep run. Hugo Lloris is one of the top keepers in the world and will undoubtedly make his mark.
It will also be interesting to see what Paul Pogba can do at this level.
Chances of Advancing Past Group Stage
France had the good fortune of being grouped into arguably one of the easier groups of this tournament. Ecuador, Switzerland and Honduras are all good nations, but none of them pose major threats to France. Les Bleues are the favorites on paper. Of course, they were also the favorites in a group that included Mexico, South Africa and Uruguay back in 2010 and somehow managed to finish fourth. They were also the favorites to finish first in a group that included Senegal, Uruguay and Denmark back in 2002; they also finished last in that group. Will France get out of Group E? Depends on which version of France shows up to the tournament.
Can They Win the Tournament?
Even if France manages to get out of the group (and they should), the team will still need to contend with top sides in the knockout rounds. France is solid and Ribery is terrific, but the team does not have a Zidane anymore and is unfortunately not deep enough to make the run to the Championship.
Look for France to make an early exit in the round of 16.
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