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The road to the UEFA European Championship 2020 starts for the World Cup winners with France travelling to Zimbru Stadium to face Moldova in their opening match before travelling back to home to play against Iceland at the Stade de France on Monday.
Didier Deschamps though had to make a small to change to his squad with Thomas Lemar replacing Anthony Martial after the Manchester United winger was ruled out with an injury.
Didier Deschamps has kept his faith in his World Cup winning squad and called upon 17 of the World Cup winning players back into the fold with Adil Rami, Benjamin Mendy, Lucas Hernandez, Corentin Tolisso, Steven N'Zonzi and Ousmane Dembele the players who were dropped.
There are no new faces in the ridiculously talented French squad that has seen the likes of Alexandre Lacazette, Sebastian Haller and Aymeric Laporte being given the snub. With an average age of 26 years and a squad that mostly built with the World Cup winning players, France will be looking to get through their qualifying matches without any hassle.
Full Squad List:
Goalkeepers: Hugo Lloris, Alphonse Areola, Steve Mandanda
Defenders: Layvin Kurzawa, Benjamin Pavard, Kurt Zouma, Presnel Kimpembe, Djibril Sidibe, Lucas Digne, Samuel Umtiti, Raphael Varane
Midfielders: Tanguy Ndombele, Moussa Sissoko, Paul Pogba, Blaise Matuidi, N'Golo Kante
Forwards: Thomas Lemar, Olivier Giroud, Florian Thauvin, Kingsley Coman, Nabil Fekir, Antoine Griezmann, Kylian Mbappe
Les Blues are expected to line up in their World Cup winning formation of 4-2-3-1 with Didier Deschamps not known to make many changes to his formation. Hugo Lloris is once again expected to be in goal.
Lucas Digne is expected to continue his run as the starting left back with Deschamps opting for the Everton player in place of Lucas Hernandez. Despite the poor form with the club, Raphael Varane is expected to partner Samuel Umtiti, who is also had a poor season so far with injury restricting his game time, in the heart of the defense with Benjamin Pavard occupying the right back.
Didier Deschamps has opted for the same midfield that won him the World Cup with the French manager tinkering with his players only when they are facing inferior opponents or the some of his first team is out with injury. The impressive combination of N'Golo Kante and Paul Pogba is sure to start against Iceland with Ndombele likely to be given a nod in their opening match against Moldova.
Kylian Mbappe, Antoine Greizmann, and Blaise Matuidi are once again likely to be the first XI for Deschamps with Thauvin, Coman or Fekir likely to be given a nod in one of their matches.
Predicted Lineup
