All managers were asked to tender their 35 man provisional squad to the Mundial by Monday May 14, 2018 with the final 23 players expected to be submitted on the 4th of June 2018.
I saw a large chunk of the 1998 World Cup hosted and won by France and I was quite impressed but I just thought it was one of those purple patches but Euro 2000 showed that it was more than luck. The French side was talented and yeah maybe a bit of luck won them Euro 2000 which was jointly hosted by Netherlands and Belgium but they could play ball.
They currently have a talented crop to choose from for the Russia 2018 World Cup and the coach Didier Deschamps would be having such a hard time picking his final team especially in midfield.
France (Les Bleus):
The French have featured in 15 World Cup tourneys winning it once in 1998 and finishing 2nd in 2006. Lilian Thuram remains the most capped player in French history (142 caps) and Arsenal legend Thierry Henry is the all time top scorer with 51 goals. I personally think Zinedine Zidane is their all time best player but a case can be made for former UEFA President Michel Platini.
My preferred 23 to the Russia 2018 World Cup for France is listed below:
Goalkeepers
1. Hugo Loris (Tottenham Hotspur)
2. Steve Madanda (Olympique Marseille)
3. Alphonse Areola (P.S.G)
Defenders
4. Samuel Umtiti (Barcelona)
5. Raphael Varane (Real Madrid)
6. Lucas Digne (Barcelona)
7. Aymeric Laporte (Manchester City)
8. Benjamin Mendy (Manchester City)
9. Adil Rami (Olympique Marseille)
10. Sebastian Corchia (Lille OSC)
11. Layvin Kurzawa (P.S.G)
Midfielders
12. N’golo Kante (Chelsea)
13. Adrian Rabiot (P.S.G)
14. Dimitry Payet (Olympique Marseille)
15. Paul Pogba (Manchester United)
16. Blaise Matuidi (Juventus)
17. Ousmane Dembele (Barcelona)
18. Florian Thauvin (Olympique Marseille)
19. Nabil Fekir (Lyon)
Forwards
20. Antoine Griezmann (Atletico Madrid)
21. Olivier Giroud (Chelsea)
22. Kylian Mbappe (P.S.G)
23. Alexandre Lacazette (Arsenal)
The toughest 23 I had to do. A lot of people would have issues with this list. Corentin Tolisso of Bayern Munich should also be on this list too but I cannot get it all right. A bunch of players I have picked might not even make the final cut. We wait till the final 23 is announced.
Thanks for your time guys and enjoy the rest of your week.
