50 days to go until 2026 World Cup: France's attack is electrifying. Can they go all the way?

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Can they go all the way?Mbappe has hit 40 goals in all competitions for Real Madrid this season despite the team struggling Franck Fife/AFP via Getty Images Share articleFifty days out from the World Cup, France are in ominously impressive form and will go into the tournament as one of the favourites to lift the trophy.  After a curious Euro 2024, where Les Bleus went out in the semi-finals having scored only three goals from open play (two of which were own goals), head coach Didier Deschamps used the subsequent Nations League campaign to recalibrate his misfiring attack. Set out in a 4-2-3-1 formation with Michael Olise at No 10, France reached the Nations League semi-finals, where they lost 5-4 to Spain in a madcap game in Stuttgart, before cruising through World Cup qualifying and taking 16 points from a possible 18. Stateside friendly wins over Brazil and Colombia in March mean they have now scored at least two goals in 11 successive fixtures – one match short of the record set by the celebrated France team that triumphed at Euro 2000. Victorious in 2018 and a beaten finalist in 2022, Deschamps will step down after the tournament following 14 years at the helm, with Zinedine Zidane widely expected to take over. Should France prevail at MetLife Stadium on July 19, he will become only the second coach – after Italy’s Vittorio Pozzo in the 1930s – to have presided over two World Cup successes. With a settled defence, a powerful midfield and an extraordinarily deep pool of attacking talent at his disposal, his side are — somewhat belatedly — beginning to look like the full sum of their parts. France’s forward players are absolutely flying. Olise’s right-wing artistry has helped to propel Bayern Munich to Bundesliga glory and a place in the Champions League semi-finals, Ousmane Dembele has rediscovered the scintillating form that won him the Ballon d’Or and skipper Kylian Mbappe has hit 40 goals in all competitions despite another disappointing campaign on the collective front with Real Madrid. Rayan Cherki is enjoying a sparkling first season at Manchester City, Bradley Barcola has been dazzling once again for Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League and Marcus Thuram’s goals have fired Inter to within sight of Serie A glory. Desire Doue has struggled to recapture the heights of a stellar 2024-25 season, which culminated in his majestic two-goal display in PSG’s 5-0 evisceration of Inter in the Champions League final. Centre-back Ibrahima Konate has endured a difficult campaign with Liverpool and there is also concern about France’s full-backs. Right-back Jules Kounde has not been at his best for Barcelona this season and first-choice left-back Lucas Digne has been obliged to share minutes with Ian Maatsen at Aston Villa. The competition for both positions – Malo Gusto on the right and Theo Hernandez on the left – does not inspire huge confidence either. The news that Hugo Ekitike will miss the tournament with a ruptured Achilles tendon was a major blow. The rangy Liverpool striker has impressed since making his senior international debut in September, scoring two goals in eight appearances, and showed in the recent 2-1 friendly win over Brazil that he could prove an ideal foil for Mbappe on France’s left side. Roma midfielder Manu Kone has been struggling with a hamstring problem since the end of January and having missed the March international break, he has fallen behind Adrien Rabiot in the central midfield pecking order. The chief uncertainty around France’s likely starting XI at the World Cup concerns which player will be aligned on the left flank. Ekitike staked a strong claim to the role in the friendly win over Brazil, in which he brilliantly converted his side’s second goal, but has since been ruled out. Barcola is the favourite to start in his absence, but Doue and Thuram are also in contention. Deschamps must also decide who to add to the squad in Ekitike’s place. Randal Kolo Muani, Jean-Philippe Mateta, Christopher Nkunku and Florian Thauvin are among the candidates. (4-2-3-1): Mike Maignan: Jules Kounde, William Saliba, Dayot Upamecano, Lucas Digne: Aurelien Tchouameni, Adrien Rabiot: Ousmane Dembele, Michael Olise, Bradley Barcola: Kylian Mbappe. A France team packed with talent and hotly tipped for overall glory going up against Senegal in their opening fixture at a World Cup. What could possibly go wrong? The pairing of the teams in December’s draw immediately sparked memories of their encounter at the 2002 World Cup, when a first-half goal by Papa Bouba Diop in Seoul earned Senegal a 1-0 win that ranks among the tournament’s most sensational upsets. Diop’s death aged 42 in November 2020 following a long illness will only serve to add poignancy to the teams’ reunion. Just as in 2002, Senegal approach the World Cup having recently finished as runners-up at the Africa Cup of Nations — but with the key difference that in 2026, that status was conferred upon them two months after the tournament when the Court of Arbitration for Sport overturned their victory over hosts Morocco in the final. The court’s decision, which the Senegalese Football Federation have pledged to appeal against, was in response to the fact that several of Senegal’s players left the pitch for 15 minutes to protest against the award of a late penalty to Morocco. Regardless of the ongoing controversy, with national hero Sadio Mane accompanied by emerging talents such as Mamadou Sarr, El Hadji Malick Diouf, Lamine Camara and Ibrahim Mbaye, Pape Thiaw’s side have reason to believe they can go further than their last-16 showing in 2022. Iraq will appear at the World Cup for the first time in 40 years after coming through a marathon 21-game qualifying campaign that culminated in a nervy 2-1 win over Bolivia in the final of the inter-confederation play-offs in March. Victory in the Mexican city of Guadalupe brought the Lions of Mesopotamia full circle — it was in Mexico, in 1986, that their only previous World Cup finals appearance occurred. Back then they finished bottom of a tough group, but emerged with credit after losing by only a single goal against Mexico, Paraguay and Belgium. The draw ensured that when they cross the Atlantic again this summer, it will be to the United States rather than Mexico, giving their participation in the tournament an unavoidable geopolitical edge. The Iraq War, sparked by the US-led invasion in 2003, transformed the country and its ramifications continue to be felt to this day. Aymen Hussein, scorer of Iraq’s winner against Bolivia, lost his father in an al-Qaeda attack in 2008 and six years later, his brother was kidnapped by Islamic State. All of the squad will have tales of how the conflict touched them. American military interventions continue to impact the squad, with Donald Trump’s ongoing operation against Iran obliging them to embark upon a gruelling three-day journey to reach Mexico for the play-off final. “I’m so happy that we’ve made 46 million people happy,” said Australian coach Graham Arnold afterwards. “Especially with what’s going on in the Middle East at the moment.” In a nutshell: Mbappe v Erling Haaland. In the early 2020s, as the sad realisation dawned that Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo were entering the twilight of their careers, it looked a distinct possibility that their individual rivalry would eventually be supplanted by Mbappe and Haaland. Both players were young, blisteringly quick and supremely talented and scored goals at a rate that exceeded what both Messi and Ronaldo had been capable of at similar ages. But although 27-year-old Mbappe and 25-year-old Haaland remain two of the biggest superstars in the modern game, their rivalry has not yet taken off. They have never played in the same domestic championship and to date they have faced each other on only three occasions, all of which have occurred in the Champions League. The final Group I game seems destined, however, to be billed as a battle between France’s No 10 and Norway’s No 9. Should there be anything riding on the match, it could provide the spark that their slow-burning rivalry has been waiting for. Norway will be appearing at their first major tournament since Euro 2000, but having plundered a remarkable 37 goals in their eight qualifying matches (which included an 11-1 shellacking of Moldova in which Haaland scored five goals), Stale Solbakken’s side could be one of the teams to watch. export const timeZoneAbbreviationMap = { // United States 'America/New_York': 'ET', 'America/Chicago': 'CT', 'America/Denver': 'MT', 'America/Los_Angeles': 'PT', 'America/Phoenix': 'MT', 'America/Anchorage': 'AKT', 'Pacific/Honolulu': 'HST', // Canada 'America/Toronto': 'ET', 'America/Montreal': 'ET', 'America/Winnipeg': 'CT', 'America/Edmonton': 'MT', 'America/Calgary': 'MT', 'America/Vancouver': 'PT', // Mexico 'America/Mexico_City': 'CST', 'America/Cancun': 'EST', 'America/Monterrey': 'CST', // Haiti, Curacao, Panama 'America/Port-au-Prince': 'EST', 'America/Curacao': 'AST', 'America/Panama': 'EST', // Iran, Uzbekistan, South Korea, Jordan, Japan, Australia, Qatar, Saudi Arabia 'Asia/Tehran': 'IRST', 'Asia/Tashkent': 'UZT', 'Asia/Seoul': 'KST', 'Asia/Amman': 'EET', 'Asia/Tokyo': 'JST', 'Asia/Shanghai': 'CST', 'Asia/Chongqing': 'CST', 'Asia/Harbin': 'CST', 'Asia/Urumqi': 'CST', 'Asia/Hong_Kong': 'CST', 'Asia/Macau': 'CST', 'Australia/Sydney': 'AEST', 'Australia/Melbourne': 'AEST', 'Australia/Brisbane': 'AEST', 'Australia/Perth': 'AWST', 'Australia/Adelaide': 'ACST', 'Australia/Darwin': 'ACST', 'Australia/Hobart': 'AEST', 'Asia/Qatar': 'AST', 'Asia/Riyadh': 'AST', // Egypt, Senegal, South Africa, Cape Verde, Morocco, Ivory Coast, Algeria, Tunisia, Ghana 'Africa/Cairo': 'EET', 'Africa/Dakar': 'GMT', 'Africa/Johannesburg': 'SAST', 'Atlantic/Cape_Verde': 'CVT', 'Africa/Casablanca': 'WET', 'Africa/Abidjan': 'GMT', 'Africa/Algiers': 'CET', 'Africa/Tunis': 'CET', 'Africa/Accra': 'GMT', // Argentina, Ecuador, Colombia, Uruguay, Brazil, Paraguay 'America/Argentina/Buenos_Aires': 'ART', 'America/Guayaquil': 'ECT', 'America/Bogota': 'COT', 'America/Montevideo': 'UYT', 'America/Sao_Paulo': 'BRT', 'America/Asuncion': 'PYT', // New Zealand 'Pacific/Auckland': 'NZT', // Germany, Switzerland, Austria 'Europe/Berlin': 'CET', 'Europe/Zurich': 'CET', 'Europe/Vienna': 'CET', // Scotland, England 'Europe/London': 'GMT', // France, Spain, Portugal, Netherlands, Norway, Belgium, Croatia 'Europe/Paris': 'CET', 'Europe/Madrid': 'CET', 'Europe/Lisbon': 'WET', 'Europe/Amsterdam': 'CET', 'Europe/Oslo': 'CET', 'Europe/Brussels': 'CET', 'Europe/Zagreb': 'CET', 'Europe/Moscow': 'MSK', // UTC fallback 'UTC': 'UTC', }; export const commonNames = { ET: 'Eastern Time', CT: 'Central Time', MT: 'Mountain Time', PT: 'Pacific Time', AKT: 'Alaska Time', HST: 'Hawaii–Aleutian Standard Time', CST: 'China Standard Time', JST: 'Japanese Standard Time', KST: 'Korea Standard Time', AEST: 'Australian Eastern Standard Time', AWST: 'Australian Western Standard Time', ACST: 'Australian Central Standard Time', IRST: 'Iran Standard Time', UZT: 'Uzbekistan Time', EET: 'Eastern European Time', AST: 'Arabia Standard Time', SAST: 'South Africa Standard Time', CVT: 'Cape Verde Time', WET: 'Western European Time', CET: 'Central European Time', GMT: 'Greenwich Mean Time', ART: 'Argentina Time', ECT: 'Ecuador Time', COT: 'Colombia Time', UYT: 'Uruguay Time', BRT: 'Brasília Time', PYT: 'Paraguay Time', NZT: 'New Zealand Time', MSK: 'Moscow Time', UTC: 'Coordinated Universal Time', }; const monthsAp = ['Jan.', 'Feb.', 'March', 'Apr.', 'May', 'June', 'July', 'Aug.', 'Sept.', 'Oct.', 'Nov.', 'Dec.']; export const getUserZone = () => { return Intl.DateTimeFormat().resolvedOptions().timeZone || 'UTC'; }; export const getTimeZoneLabel = () => { const zone = getUserZone(); const abbr = timeZoneAbbreviationMap[zone]; if (abbr) { const full = commonNames[abbr] || abbr; return `${full}`; } // Fallback to Luxon short name from an example date in the zone const dt = DateTime.now().setZone(zone); const fallback = dt.isValid ? dt.offsetNameShort : 'UTC'; return fallback; }; // Format ET string to user's local time export const formatLocalTime = (date, index) => { const userTime = Intl.DateTimeFormat().resolvedOptions(); const dateObj = new Date(date); const hours = dateObj.getHours() === 0 ? 12 : dateObj.getHours() > 12 ? dateObj.getHours() - 12 : dateObj.getHours(); const minutes = dateObj.getMinutes() === 0 ? '' : dateObj.getMinutes(); const amPm = dateObj.getHours() > 12 ? 'PM' : 'AM'; const timeZoneAbbrev = timeZoneAbbreviationMap[userTime.timeZone]; const timeFormatted = !minutes ? `${hours} ${amPm}` : `${hours}:${minutes} ${amPm}`; return index === 0 ? `${timeFormatted} ${timeZoneAbbrev}` : timeFormatted; return timeFormatted }; // table helper functions export const formatDate = (date) => { // get timezone const userTime = Intl.DateTimeFormat().resolvedOptions(); const dateObj = new Date(date); return `${monthsAp[dateObj.getMonth()]} ${dateObj.getDate()}` } // add the times and dates let data = JSON.parse(document.getElementById("graphics-data-I").textContent); document.getElementById(`embed-timezone-info-I`).innerHTML = `All times in ${getTimeZoneLabel()}`; for (let i = 0; i < 3; i++) { let matchday = i + 1; let dataIndex = i * 2; let dataIndexEnd = dataIndex + 2; let dataFiltered = data.slice(dataIndex, dataIndexEnd); for (let i = 0; i < dataFiltered.length; i++) { const dateFormatted = formatDate(dataFiltered[i].date_utc) const timeFormatted = formatLocalTime(dataFiltered[i].date_utc); document.getElementById(`matchday-${matchday}-I-embed-date-${i}`).innerHTML = dateFormatted; document.getElementById(`matchday-${matchday}-I-embed-time-${i}`).innerHTML = timeFormatted; } }Is there anything travelling fans need to know?Supporters travelling to matches in Group I face eye-wateringly high public transport costs: over $100 for return rail tickets to MetLife Stadium in New Jersey (France v Senegal, Norway v Senegal) and $95 for a return bus service to Boston’s Gillette Stadium (Iraq v Norway, Norway v France). Additionally, the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority has confirmed that the price of a round-trip train ticket from central Boston to Gillette Stadium (which will be known as Boston Stadium during the tournament for sponsorship reasons) will increase fourfold from $20 to $80. Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms