Key Selections and Omissions

Robin Risser, who plays for Lens, has been one of the revelations of the French league season and won the award for the best goalkeeper earlier this week. He played a big role in making Lens the second-best defense in Ligue 1 and was selected by Deschamps in a No. 3 role behind Mike Maignan and Brice Samba. Deschamps also called up Crystal Palace forward Jean-Philippe Mateta, who was preferred to Randal Kolo Muani in his 26-man list. Kolo Muani had been a late addition to France’s previous World Cup squad four years ago and scored a goal against Morocco in the semifinals.

France has been drawn in Group I and will take on Senegal, Iraq and Norway during the group stage. The main criteria for selection was sporting performance, according to Deschamps. He said that Lucas Chevalier may be disappointed but has not played for several months. At the time when he could have had some playing time, he didn’t get any. Deschamps is gifted with an impressive attacking reservoir including Kylian Mbappé, Ballon d’Or winner Ousmane Dembélé, rising star Désiré Doué, Michael Olise, Rayan Cherki and Maghnes Akliouche.

Selection Criteria and Squad Dynamics

Deschamps emphasized the importance of ambition and humility in his comments. ‘I have ambition, and I want the players to have it too,’ he said. ‘But I don’t want us to lose our humility. I’m not going to hide and say we’re not among the teams with the potential to become world champions. But there are eight, maybe 10 teams that can say that. It’s not by shouting: ‘We’re the best, we’re the strongest.’

The squad announcement was delayed from May 13 to May 14 due to the Lens v PSG match being pushed to Wednesday. FIFA has set Monday 25 May for clubs to release internationals before the tournament, except for players involved in finals. The plan is to give players two or three days with family before regrouping at Clairefontaine on 27 or 28 May. France will face Côte d’Ivoire in Nantes on four June, then play in Lille on eight June against an opponent to be decided by play-off results. They will fly to Boston on 10 June, six days before opening their campaign on 16 June in New Jersey against Senegal.

Player Reactions and Expectations

Mateta, who is making his first World Cup appearance, called it a ‘childhood dream’ and expressed his excitement about the opportunity. ‘It’s a childhood dream, like saying to yourself, ‘I can score for the French national team,’ he said. ‘Even for you, as a journalist, it’s something extraordinary, and everyone wants to be part of it, don’t they? So imagine as a player. If I can help the team, I’ll be the happiest person in the world.’

France will begin their campaign on June 16 against Senegal (Group I). The tournament will feature 48 teams, with 8.5 direct spots allocated to Asia, a decision that has been interpreted as an effort to attract China, a massive market, to the finals for economic benefit. Starting from this tournament, a ‘dynamic pricing system’ has been introduced, where ticket prices rise in real-time as demand increases, leading to analyses that the price of final match tickets has risen sevenfold compared to four years ago.