The FIFA World Cup is one of the biggest events going on in the world today, with many teams like Argentina, France, England, Brazil, and Portugal favorites to win the coveted championship. This is especially important for defending champions France, who look to win their third title this year–and they look to be making great progress towards that. With spectacular wins over Australia and Denmark in the group stage and over Poland in the round of 16, France seems to be defending their reigning title well. But will this last?

France came into this World Cup perceived by people as a weaker team than before, due to the ruling out of one of their best players, Paul Pogba, due to knee surgery. Pogba played very well in the 2018 World Cup and scored a goal in the final, helping them to victory. However, France quickly showed everybody that they weren’t dependent on Pogba by winning against Australia 4 – 1, with goals scored by Adrien Rabiot, Olivier Giroud, and one by a person who looks to be France’s next young star, Kylian Mbappe, who is also ranked as one of the best players in the world. They next went to play and won against Denmark 2-1. The two goals were scored by, you guessed it, Kylian Mbappe. France then started their entire backup squad against Tunisia, possibly resting up their starters, and lost, but they still qualified for the round of 16. Finally, in the round of 16, France had a spectacular 3-1 win against Poland, advancing to the quarterfinals. Goals were scored by Giroud and two by the man himself, Kylian Mbappe. The team will show their skills against England in the quarterfinals as they look to get to the semifinal.

Kylian Mbappe was thrust into the spotlight when he helped France to victory at the age of 19 in the 2018 FIFA World Cup. He quickly went on to show his prowess in other games with the national team and his club, Paris Saint-Germain. Although there was a brief spell where he wasn’t able to score goals at the Euro and suffered lots of racial abuse, he quickly went on to win many games once again with PSG’s star trio of Neymar, himself, and Lionel Messi. Once again, he is trying and succeeding to redeem himself from that dry spell and may get to win the World Cup once more.

Olivier Giroud is also an amazing player, being the highest goal scorer ever for the France national team. He is 36 years old, however, and this may be his last World Cup. Regardless, Giroud seems to be playing to win, and he and Mbappe will be France’s dynamic duo for the world cup.
As France continues throughout their World Cup journey, it remains to be seen how far they will get.