Didier Deschamps is going back to school this Wednesday. The coach of the French team unveils his group at 2 p.m., at the FFF headquarters (and live on the federation networks), for the first two matches of the 2026 Blues World Cup qualifiers, against Poland, Friday September 5 in Wroclaw (Poland), and against Iceland, the following Tuesday at the Parc des Princes (the home stadium of the tricolor selection in the coming months). Azerbaijan will be the third opposing in October.
Reigning world vice-world champions, Kylian Mbappé and his teammates are obviously the favorites of their group (where only the first will pocket his ticket for the World Cup 26 in Canada, the United States and Mexico). The Blues face the outsider of the hen and the Ukrainians, if they obviously cannot evolve in their country because of the war waged by Russia, are like at home in Poland, where nearly 3 million Ukrainians resident (900,000 would have arrived from the conflict in their country).
What do the match results of match results say?
Ball prediction And Wincomparator Give 46 % and 48 % in France respectively to start with a victory against the Ukrainians, but the latter display 32 % and 29 % chance of winning in front of their audience.
The French team can very well leave with a single point of Poland, or even with a defeat which would therefore place them in the last two positions of the group (the Icelanders receive the Azerbaijani at the same time). It is absolutely necessary to finish at the top of this group. If this is not the case, the Blues are guaranteed to compete in European dams (the 12 seconds of groups and four drafts of the League of Nations), but it will be necessary to be won of a Final Four without the assurance of playing the final at home.
The French team against a “golden generation”
Ukraine can count on a golden generation which has precisely disappointed during Euro 2024 in Germany, being eliminated during the group phase (in a hen where all the teams have finished with four points). Andriy Lunin, goalkeeper number 2 of Real, Heya Zabarnyi, the new central defender of PSG (holder against Nantes and then stayed on the bench against Angers), and Oleksandr Zinchenko (who did not play with Arsenal) will be faithful to the posts.
The Ukrainian training may have a small advantage in terms of rhythm since the players of Dynamo kyiv and Shakhtar Donetsk chained qualifying matches in the Champions League or Europa League. This is particularly the case for the two young offensive prodigies of Ukraine, Georgiy Sudakov and Vladyslav Vanat (which should start at the forefront against France since Artem dovbyk is in the process of transfer to Roma).
