France are World Cup contenders but they also have a rich history of implosion

France have a formidable squad and high expectations, but they’ve also had bad luck with injuries and have a historical tendency to implode.

France arrive at the 2022 World Cup in an unusual position. The draw has been good to them and they’re widely tipped to reach the latter stages of the competition, but even though they arrive with something approaching an embarrassment of playing riches, their injury record has been terrible and with problems continuing to accumulate.

N’Golo Kante is reaching a point in his career at which he seems to be injured more often than he’s fit. He’s a huge loss but it can hardly be considered a huge surprise. The same goes for Paul Pogba, who still hasn’t played a minute of club football for Juventus since returning after his latest Manchester United misadventure.

But since landing in Qatar, things have only got worse. Presnel Kimpembe had travelled in the hope that a recurring injury that had limited his appearances for PSG this season might clear up, but he’s now ruled out. Christopher Nkunku has also been sidelined by a knee injury sustained in training and has been replaced by Randal Kolo Muani. Nkunku had been in blistering form for RB Leipzig with 17 goals in 23 appearances in all competitions.

And as if that wasn’t enough, Karim Benzema has now also been ruled out for the tournament after the flare-up of an injury, an absence that will feel like a bigger blow to anything that came before. It’s notable that Didier Deschamps has not called in a replacement for Benzema. The nature of the injury – a muscle tear – would seem to indicate no realistic chance of being back in time for the latter stages. And on top of all that, back-up goalkeeper Mike Maignan is out for the tournament with a calf injury and there are question marks over the fitness of both Raphael Varane and Jules Kounde.

Those with long memories might even be tempted to ask whether we could be due a repeat of what happened on the last two occasions they arrived at a World Cup having reached the final of the previous tournament. Their collapse in the 2010 finals was one of the most spectacular ever seen, with the team refusing to train under head coach Raymond Domenech as they collected just one point from their three group games. When they arrived at the 2002 tournament as holders, exactly the same thing happened. One point from three games and bottom of their group.

France played out this very peculiar pattern at Euro 2020,…