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#2 Paul Pogba and N’Golo Kante in Midfield
France’s defensive excellence can also be attributed to their midfield players. While he was strangely off-color in the final, N’Golo Kante was one of the best players in the tournament as he stopped opposition players with aplomb. The Chelsea midfielder averaged 2.1 tackles and 2.9 interceptions, helping contain the likes of Lionel Messi, Kevin De Bruyne and Edinson Cavani in the knockout stages. Overall he made more recoveries than anyone else in the tournament, with an incredible 35.
However, Kante was not the only world-class defensive midfielder that France had in the knockout stages. In the group stages, Paul Pogba was one of the best attacking midfielders in the tournament as he had a role in all three of France’s goals. However, in the knockout stages, he became a defensive midfielder in the mold of Kante as he made crucial tackles and interceptions, especially in the semi-final against Belgium.
Despite all their defensive effort, Pogba still managed to have an attacking impact. In the group-stages, he was the rampaging physical specimen that he has been (intermittently) for Manchester United and Juventus in the past. However, in the knockout stages, we saw a different more technically adept Pogba whose through balls ripped apart Argentinian, Uruguayan, Belgian and Croatian defences, especially on the counter. Pogba and Kante bode to be the best international midfield for the next decade.
