Nations League – Areola, Upamecano, Guendouzi, Camavinga, Kolo Muani: For them, the World Cup begins in Copenhagen

It feels like a last chance. Two months before the World Cup, everything counts for those who dream of Qatar, but for these five probably a little more than the others. Alphonse Areola, Dayot Upamecano, Eduardo Camavinga, Mattéo Guendouzi and Randal Kolo Muani are on the margins of the list. Their status and their future hang by a thread. If they play Sunday against Denmark, they could well play their place in Qatar. For them, the World Cup begins in Copenhagen.

Alphonse Areola: Do not make waves

The Rennes goalkeeper had blocked his way to the Euro but started from afar. The Nantes player seems destined to integrate the group regularly in the medium term. The hierarchy will in any case be respected in Denmark on Sunday, since he will start as a holder, as announced by his coach to the press on Friday. The former Parisian, author of a hazardous outing on Thursday, has a better interest in ensuring. His margin on Lafont is not huge, and an error could be paid cash.

No wave, one way or the other: that’s what Areola will need to ensure his place in the 23. Because his experience and his behavior in the group play for the moment in his favor, as evidenced by his selection despite his low playing time at West Ham … and the words of Deschamps. “Each time he has played, he has performed well. Despite everything, he has lived with us, an international experience. It is not huge, but internally it is because he has often been with us”.

Dayot Upamecano: Freeing yourself from the burden

Two months before the World Cup and while Didier Deschamps has been calling him regularly since 2020, Dayot Upamecano may have the opportunity against Denmark to really launch his international career. Because so far, it has only been a succession of missed meetings and if we had to remember only one highlight of his six selections, it would be above all his extreme fragility. “He can always do better, he recognizes it, there was an element of emotion when he came in September and October”, recognized the coach after the failed debut of the central defender.

The blue jersey has never seemed as heavy as on his shoulders but as he continues to chain tenure at Bayern, it is clear that Upamecano has something more. Problem, he evolves in an ultra-competitive sector where, between the essentials (Varane, Kimpembe, Pavard, L.Hernandez) and those who, unlike him, have seized their chance (Koundé, Saliba), his room for maneuver is extremely narrow.

He already missed the Euro last year but he has returned to the group twice since. Will everything depend on his performance? With a defensive sector without physical glitch, difficult to make room for him. Unless in Copenhagen, he breaks down the house and finally frees himself from his burden.

Mattéo Guendouzi: Reply to Fofana

The Marseille midfielder is a regular at recent meetings. He has played six of the last eight matches for Les Bleus, including two as a starter. But Guendouzi does not yet have a major competition to his credit in selection. He will therefore be judged exclusively on his level of play, not on his little international experience.

This is where things can get tricky. In June, he had not taken advantage of his substantial playing time to highlight himself, at the heart of a very laborious sequence of four games without a win. There is also his start to the season with OM, neither good nor bad, in a more advanced position entrusted to him by Igor Tudor. And then, impossible to hide the competition. Thursday, Youssouf Fofana was preferred to him in the eleven and scored big points, avoiding the trap Guendouzi sometimes fell into with the Blues: that of being too neutral.

On Sunday, the former Arsenal player will simply have to play his best game in the France team and go further than his interesting statistics (a goal, an assist) during his first appearances. He would need to be a holder for this, hoping that it is not already too late.

Eduardo Camavinga: Remembering beautiful things

The story was beautiful, clear. In the fall of 2020, France discovers a new darling. A kind of midfielder Kylian Mbappé, precocious as rarely, talented as anyone. Eduardo Camavinga crunches with full teeth in his first selections, even offering a nice goal against Ukraine. At 17, the future belongs to him. Three selections and then… nothing. Total blackout. In Rennes, he goes off the rails and Deschamps advises him to digest his new status before returning to Blue.

His transfer to Real does not change anything. In lack of playing time, Camavinga goes back to the Espoirs box while waiting for a sign from the A’s. Two years later, with a new status in Madrid, here he is again at Clairefontaine in the castle of the greats. Of course, he took advantage of the absences of Paul Pogba and N’Golo Kanté. But in Denmark, if Deschamps gives him playing time, he will have the opportunity to prove to his coach that it is time to pick up the story where it left off. If the midfield fills up in Qatar, places will be expensive in a dense sector and Youssouf Fofana’s fine performance against Austria makes the task even less easy in Camavinga. A priori, it starts from quite a distance, two months from Doha. It’s up to him to make up for lost time.

Randal Kolo Muani: Sowing doubt

He has little pressure and everything to gain. Launched in the last seconds of added time against Poland, the Frankfurt striker did not have the opportunity to touch his first ball. There is no doubt that Didier Deschamps will give him a little more time in Denmark to try, why not, to shake up the hierarchy. The latter is not definitively stopped behind Karim Benzema – absent from this gathering – and Kylian Mbappé for the two front positions. Olivier Giroud scores goals and points every time he plays, but will not, until proven otherwise, be retained if “KB9” is available. Wissam Ben Yedder, he seems to have missed his chance.

While waiting to find out if the coach’s position on Giroud will evolve, the former Nantes player has a mission: to sow doubt. Make his selection for Qatar if not probable, at least possible. His speed and technical quality can be assets. His youth and his freshness too, in a position where, more than elsewhere, incoming players can change the course of a match. Kolo Muani will have to do a lot with little. It’s up to him to play.