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            <p>In this World Cup Fantasy 2022 article, we preview France and their World Cup 2022 hopes - from their route to qualification, form since and best fantasy players.</p>
<p>Check out our <a href="https://www.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/world-cup-fantasy-2022-tips-the-ultimate-guide">Ultimate Guide to World Cup Fantasy Football</a>, which will feature everything you need to know under one roof, from strategy guides to expert team reveals and all our team previews as they are published.</p>
<p>Our team previews will be useful regardless of the fantasy format you play.</p>
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<li><a href="http://fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/world-cup-fantasy-2022-team-reveals/"><strong>See who our expert managers pick in their World Cup Fantasy team reveals</strong></a></li>
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<p><em><strong>Last updated: 10/11/22 (squad and predicted lineup)</strong></em></p>
<h2>France World Cup 2022 team preview: The history</h2>
<p><b>Manager: </b>Didier Deschamps</p>
<p><b>World ranking: </b>4th</p>
<p><b>World Cup 2018 performance: </b>Winners</p>
<p><strong>Best World Cup performance: </strong>Winners (1998, 2018)</p>
<h2><b>Who will France play in the World Cup 2022 group stages?</b></h2>
<div id="attachment_49358" style="width: 441px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-49358" class="wp-image-49358 size-full" src="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/World-Cup-2022-Group-D.jpg" alt="" width="431" height="302" /></p>
<p id="caption-attachment-49358" class="wp-caption-text">World Cup Group D: France, Australia, Denmark and Tunisia. Graphic source: Google</p>
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<h2><b>When do France play in the World Cup 2022? Group-stage fixtures</b></h2>
<p>France's group-stage fixtures are as follows - all times in GMT:</p>
<ul>
<li>Tuesday, November 22, 19:00 - France v Australia</li>
<li>Saturday, November 26, 16:00 - France v Denmark</li>
<li>Wednesday, November 30, 15:00 - France v Tunisia</li>
</ul>
<h2><b>France's route to the World Cup 2022: Qualifying performances</b></h2>
<p><strong>Top scorer: </strong>Antoine Griezmann - 6</p>
<p><strong>Most assists: </strong>Kylian Mbappe, Kingsley Coman and Theo Hernandez - 2</p>
<div id="attachment_49010" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-49010" class="size-full wp-image-49010" src="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Mbappe-World-Cup-2022.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="681" /></p>
<p id="caption-attachment-49010" class="wp-caption-text">Kylian Mbappe. Picture by Getty Images</p>
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<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>France come into the 2022 World Cup as defending champions - and they will be hoping to stick around in Qatar for longer than their 2002 defence, when they exited in the group stages.</p>
<p>Les Bleus were ranked second in the world at the start of qualifying, making them heavy favourites to progress.</p>
<p>In their way were Ukraine, Finland, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kazakhstan, with the team who topped the group earning an automatic qualification spot.</p>
<p>It was a task which France completed comfortably, going unbeaten in eight games - but they did draw three times in the process.</p>
<p><strong>Antoine Griezmann's </strong>goal in their opening fixture against Ukraine was not another to seal three points - the Ukrainians scored a second-half goal to share the points.</p>
<p>France scored a 19th minute goal for the second match running when they faced Kazakhstan, with Ousmane Dembele on the scoresheet. But this time they secured a 2-0 victory, an own-goal doubling their lead.</p>
<p>Top-scorer Griezmann scored the only goal of the game in matchday 3 against Bosnia and Herzegovina.</p>
<p>But Bosnia earned a point in the reverse fixture. Griezmann was on target once again, equalising after <strong>Edin Dzeko </strong>had scored for France's opponents.</p>
<p>Another 1-1 draw followed, with France failing to defeat Ukraine. Manchester United forward <strong>Anthony Martial </strong>scored France's goal.</p>
<p>France picked up their form in their final three qualifying games, taking maximum points from fixtures against Kazakhstan and two ties against Finland.</p>
<p>Griezmann continued his fine form with brace in France's 2-0 win over Finland, before an 8-0 hammering of Kazakhstan saw <strong>Kylian Mbappe </strong>score his first goals of qualifying - four in fact.</p>
<p><strong>Karim Benzema </strong>added two, while <strong>Adrian Rabiot </strong>grabbed a rare goal and Griezmann rounded off proceedings with an 84th minute penalty.</p>
<p>Benzema and Mbappe combined in their final game to give France a 2-0 win over Finland.</p>
<h2><b>France's form since qualifying for the World Cup 2022</b></h2>
<p>France's qualifying group was completed at the end of November 2021.</p>
<p>Their next games came via two friendlies in March.</p>
<p><strong>Aurelian Tchouameni </strong>and <strong>Olivier Giroud </strong>scored in a 2-1 win over Ivory Coast, before a resounding 5-0 defeat of South Africa.</p>
<p>Giroud scored in his second game in succession, while Mbappe managed a brace. <strong>Wissam Ben Yedder</strong> and <strong>Matteo Guendouzi</strong> each returned one goal.</p>
<p>Then came four UEFA Nations League ties in June - and France's form took a nosedive.</p>
<p>Defeat to Denmark 2-1 came before a duo of 1-1 draws against Croatia and Austria. And Croatia then defeated them 1-0.</p>
<p>In France's defence, there was a degree of rotation in the majority of the games. They were not the only team to struggle in this period either, with England among those suffering a worrying string of results.</p>
<p>Late September was a chance to turn things around before Qatar, with Nations League matchups against Austria and Denmark.</p>
<p>They beat Austria 2-0, however they lost by the same scoreline to Denmark. See our <a href="https://www.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/qatar-world-cup-2022-complete-guide-to-the-pre-tournament-form-of-all-32-nations">World Cup form guide</a> for full details.</p>
<h2><b>Do France have any World Cup warm-up matches?</b></h2>
<p>There are currently no scheduled warm-up matches for France.</p>
<h2><b>Who is in the France World Cup 2022 squad?</b></h2>
<p><span data-reactid=".20i8quupiyk.0.0.0.1.$paragraph-2.0.0">Countries are expected to announce their squads as late as November 14, narrowing down their preliminary lists of up to 55 players to 26 players. </span></p>
<p>France announced their squad on November 9 but on November 14, <strong>Presnal Kimpembe </strong>was withdrawn because of injury. He was replaced by <strong>Axel Disai</strong>.<strong> Marcus Thuram </strong>was also added.</p>
<p>A further blow was dealt when<strong> Christopher Nkunku</strong> was injured and he was replaced by <strong>Randal Kolo Muani</strong>.</p>
<p>GK: Alphonse Areola, Hugo Lloris, Steve Mandanda</p>
<p>DEF: Axel Disai, Lucas Hernandez, Theo Hernandez, Ibrahima Konate, Jules Kounde, Benjamin Pavard, William Saliba, Dayot Upamecano, Raphael Varane</p>
<p>MID: Eduardo Camavinga, Youssouf Fofana, Matteo Guendouzi, Adrien Rabiot, Aurelian Tchouameni, Jordan Veretout</p>
<p>FOR: <strong>Karim Benzema*</strong>, Kingsley Coman, Ousmane Dembele, Olivier Giroud, Antoine Griezmann, Kylian Mbappe, Marcus Thuram, Randal Kolo Muani</p>
<p>*Withdrawn through injury on November 19</p>
<h2>Who will start for France in the World Cup 2022?</h2>
<p>France were initially expected to play three at the back, based on recent formations, however manager Didier Deschamps indicated when he picked his squad that they would revert to a 4-2-3-1.</p>
<p>Our predicted lineup for France is therefore as follows. See our full analysis, with the help of FPL and France fan <a href="https://twitter.com/FPL_Kimpembe">FPL_Kimpembe</a>, below.</p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;"> <strong>Join the Hub to read the full article, including predicted lineup, best players and an under-the-radar pick to watch!</strong> </span></p>
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