3 strategies to beat Argentina: How France can defend world cup title

Didier Deschamps has demonstrated during his ten years as coach that he is shrewd and practical, and is willing to make tactical adjustments as needed. The forward Kylian Mbappe, the highlight of France’s world cup victory in Russia four years ago, leads a superb and cohesive team at his disposal.

Be injury-free

At Qatar 2022, Les Bleus lost its star performer reigning Ballon D’Or winner Karim Benzema due to injury. They also lost Lucas Hernandez. Prior to the competition, N’Golo Kante, Paul Pogba, Wesley Fofana, Mike Maignan, Presnel Kimpembe, and Christopher Nkunku all sustained injuries.

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Raphael Varane, Ibrahima Konaté, and Dayot Upamecano, the three centre backs on whom France depends, have all sustained injuries this week. France need to be injury-free to go full strength against Argentina, as the likes of Messi, Lautaro Martínez and Julian Alvarez won’t spare the French defence.

Kylian Mbappe

With his shown threats of speed, strength and shooting accuracy, Mbappé is on course to surpass Pele as the world cup’s all-time leading scorer. In Qatar, he has now added five goals to the four he scored in Russia in 2018. His blistering pace should put Argentina’s defence to the test. Mbappe, with the support of Olivier Giroud, can wreak havoc to the Argentine defence.

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Substitute Marcus Thuram was deployed by Deschamps to both attack and defend Left Back Lucas Hernandez. The Antoine Griezmann-led France midfield, which works extremely hard, was also given less job to do. The South American team might also suffer significant losses thanks to Thuram and Mbappe.

Score first, score early

Legendary German footballer Jurgen Klinsmann has said that France and Argentina follow similar tactics. So, it will be critical who scores the first goal as these teams will likely cancel each other out. Also, history favours those who score first in world cup finals. Previously, in 10 out of the last 11 world cup final matches, the squad that scored first ended up winning the trophy.

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In each of its seven games from the round of 16 onward at the last two world cups, France have scored first. France gain the upper hand under Deschamps and immediately tighten their defence. Argentina have not trailed in Qatar, with the exception of the Saudi Arabia match, when Messi’s boys failed to get even. It’ll be interesting to see how Argentina will react if France manage to score first and score early.

(With AP inputs)