Already qualified for the rest of the 2026 World Cup, the French team impresses as much by its results as by its collective intensity. Often accused in the past of waiting for their opponents to better punish them in transition, the Blues have displayed a much more aggressive face without the ball since the start of the tournament. Didier Deschamps’ men systematically seek to recover the ball as high as possible to stifle their opponents.
And the statistics confirm this impression. According to Opta data, no selection exerted as much pressure on the opposing camp as France during the first two days of competition. The Tricolores already have 461 pressures in the opposing half, the best total of the tournament at this stage. The Blues also dominate another ranking revealing their aggressiveness: that of ball recoveries with 99 balls taken from their opponents.
