Running down the weaknesses of the 4 World Cup favorites

#2 France

Doubts about Sidibe and Mendy are considerable

Les Bleus are the favourites to win the World Cup for many fans across the globe. They certainly boast of global stars like Paul Pogba, Antoine Griezmann, Kylian Mbappe and Ousmane Dembele, with players like N’Golo Kante, Samuel Umtiti and Blaise Matuidi also set to play vital roles in their hunt for their second FIFA World Cup crown.

But it isn’t going to be easy, especially with the side’s ability in full-back areas being questioned by many. Didier Deschamps has selected four full-backs, with Benjamin Mendy and Djibril Sidibe expected to be the starting first-choice left back and right back respectively. The other two are Theo Hernandez and Benjamin Pavard, who had an excellent season with Bundesliga side VfB Stuttgart.

Both Sidibe and Mendy endured injury tortured campaigns for their clubs- Monaco and Manchester City, remember. Mendy made only seven Premier League appearances for City while Sidibe did make 27 of those for Monaco, he is yet to gain full match sharpness after having injured his meniscus back in April. There is uncertainty about how they will perform and whether they can start off well, despite having sustained concerning injuries.

There is also a question mark about the quality and experience of the second-choices at both the positions. Both Theo Hernandez and Pavard made their debuts only recently and can’t be treated to be seasoned international players.

Another weakness is the lack of a leader. There hardly seems to be a character in there who can command the forces, put the others into their positions when things aren’t going right. No player out of them seems to have the ability to pick the team up when the team is losing. And that is really needed in every World Cup winning team. Be it Italy’s side of 2006, Spain’s side of 2010 or Germany’s side of 2014, they had iron-willed characters who could steer the team- Fabio Cannavaro, Carles Puyol and Phillip Lahm.