France Hoping Youth And Hunger Can Beat “World Cup Winner’s Curse”

Denmark two, France nil.

That was the score on 11 June, 2002 that condemned the World Cup holders to bottom place in Group A. Goals from Dennis Rommedahl and Jon Dahl Tomasson finished off a France team that failed to score a single goal in South Korea, losing 1-0 to Senegal and drawing 0-0 with Uruguay in their other two games.

Twenty years later and France are again World Cup champions, and again face Denmark in Asia.

Most predictions expect France to do well. They have a strong squad and a relatively kind group on paper, facing Tunisia and Australia as well as Denmark. But like France in 2002, other recent world champions have stuttered in the following World Cup, creating a narrative known as the “World Cup winner’s curse”.

Since France’s failure in 2002, Brazil have been the only World Cup holders to get further than the group stage. They reached the quarter finals in 2006. The following World Cup in 2010 saw holders Italy finish bottom of a group containing Paraguay, Slovakia and New Zealand.

That was followed by Spain getting hammered 5-1 by the Netherlands in 2014, then losing 2-0 to Chile to ensure their elimination. In the most recent World Cup, Germany huffed and puffed against South Korea but couldn’t find a way through, and ended up conceding two late goals to finish bottom of Group F.

Will the “World Cup winner’s curse” strike again?

There are several factors that might make some people doubt Les Bleus.

They go into this World Cup on awful form, with only their neighbors across the Channel, England and Wales, having worse form going into the current international break.

Injuries have struck down some key players like N’Golo Kante, Paul Pogba, Christopher Nkunku and Presnel Kimpembe. France’s recent results against Group D opponents Denmark won’t give them much encouragement either; they lost 2-1 to the Danes in Paris back in June, and suffered a 2-0 defeat in Copenhagen in the last international break.

It’s been suggested that the “World Cup winner’s curse” is due to the holders allowing their squad to get stale, keeping players in past their prime simply because of their victory four years earlier.

Spain were among the oldest teams in 2014 and Xavi, David Villa and Xabi Alonso all retired from international duty shortly after their World Cup exit. Italy were the fourth oldest side in 2010, but Germany on the other hand had one of the youngest teams in 2018. It’s a slightly different situation when it comes to the starting eleven though, with six of the German team that started in the 2014 final against Argentina still in the starting line ups in Germany’s games in 2018, all aged 28 or older.

France in 2022, possibly due to injuries rather than by design, have picked a young and hungry squad.

Despite the presence of senior players like a 36-year-old Olivier Giroud and 34-year-old Karim Benzema, France’s squad is the tenth youngest on average. When comparing the median squad age, only Ghana, the USA, Wales and Ecuador have picked younger sides. France’s head coach Didier Deschamps might have been there and done it, but many of his players haven’t, with the squad having a median of just 13 caps.

They have plenty of talented players like William Saliba, Jules Kounde, and Real Madrid midfielders Aurelien Tchouameni and Eduardo Camavinga who weren’t part of that 2018 triumph in Moscow, and will be as hungry for their first World Cup medal as anyone else at the tournament.

The injuries to France’s midfield might initially seem like a weakpoint, but with the likes of Tchouameni and Camavinga now getting their chance to shine on the global stage, it could end up being a positive.

France started the so-called “World Cup winner’s curse” back in 2002. This year, they’ll be hoping to end it.