Picking France's 2018 World Cup Squad After Latest Qualifiers

France endured a peculiar international break. If the average fan had heard before the recent round of fixtures that Les Bleus had played the Netherlands and Luxembourg and won one game 4-0 and drawn the other 0-0, they would probably have assumed the results came in the opposite order to which they arrived.

In reality, a Paul Pogba masterclass helped France blast their way past the struggling Dutch, but Luxembourg provided surprisingly stubborn opposition.

France remain top of their FIFA World Cup qualification group, one point ahead of Sweden and four points ahead of the Netherlands. Only one team qualifies automatically, with the eight second-placed teams who accrue the most points heading into a seeded playoff. France would likely be favourites against whomever they faced in those playoffs, but in a group they should win comfortably, it would be an embarrassing turn of events to end up finishing second.

While the draw against Luxembourg is the standout result from the group, France have made a difficult fist of a couple of previous qualifiers, drawing 0-0 with Belarus away from home and losing to Sweden in Stockholm.

In October, they travel to Bulgaria and then host Belarus. They should win both of those games and ensure automatic qualification, but they should have beaten Luxembourg too.

Back in March we looked at what the France team might look at at the next World Cup. Football being the ever changing landscape that it is, the time seemed right to take another look, revising as appropriate.

There is still a long way to go between now and when Didier Deschamps has to pick his squad for the World Cup, so a lot can change—including the manager, though the French Football Federation is generally quite patient. Nine months or so out from decision time, this is a decent approximation of the lay of the land.

Goalkeepers

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Hugo Lloris retains the No. 1 spot for France, although he has had a bit of a shaky start to the season for Tottenham Hotspur. But unless his form substantially dips—and there is no reason to expect it will—Les Bleus will be happy to have a stopper of Lloris' ability to call upon as No. 1 choice.

In March, we had Alphonse Areola, 24, of Paris Saint-Germain and Benoit Costil, 30, of Girondins de Bordeaux backing him up. Since then, though, perennial squad member Steve Mandanda has ended his unhappy spell in the Premier League, and is back with Olympique de Marseille. That means he is also back playing regular first-team football and will likely go to the World Cup, replacing Costil in the role of experienced option.

Areola will benefit from the experience given he is probably going to be Lloris' replacement as No. 1 choice in a few years' time.

Full-Backs

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No real change here from March. Lucas Digne was in the squad for this latest round of internationals, but when Manchester City's Benjamin Mendy is fully fit, he will likely replace the Barcelona man.

Assuming Deschamps picks two players for each position, those are likely to be Djibril Sidibe—who survived AS Monaco's summer clear-out, much to the delight of Les Monegasques—Layvin Kurzawa of PSG, the experienced Christophe Jallet of OGC Nice—a Deschamps favourite—and Mendy.

Centre-Backs

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Here things have definitely moved on from March. Aymeric Laporte and Adil Rami were suggested as fourth-choice centre-back alternatives, but Kurt Zouma and Presnel Kimpembe are ahead of them in the pecking order. Zouma should benefit from moving away from Chelsea on a season-long loan to Stoke City, with whom he will likely be a first-choice option. Kimpembe, 22, has been starting games for PSG this season, and both he and Zouma were on the bench against the Netherlands.

Real Madrid's Raphael Varane missed the latest round of games through injury, with Barcelona's Samuel Umtiti partnering Arsenal's Laurent Koscielny. Two of those three will be the first-choice centre-back pairing in Russia, assuming they are fit.

Midfielders

Pogba is obviously the star turn here, with Chelsea's N'Golo Kante set to perform the function former team-mate Nemanja Matic is doing at club level, providing a platform upon which Pogba can shine.

France fans will be hoping there is no repeat of Euro 2016, when Deschamps bafflingly hamstrung Pogba in the final in order to allow Moussa Sissoko a free role.

Away from the first-choice pairing—one of the world's best—there is pretty decent squad depth, as evidenced by the fact there will likely be no place for Morgan Schneiderlin or Yohan Cabaye and, in more high-profile absences, one of Tiemoue Bakayoko or Corentin Tolisso.

In March, we speculated that Tolisso would make the squad as he was the player more likely to get a big move in summer 2017, but they both got big moves, with Bakayoko going to Chelsea and Tolisso heading to Bayern Munich. Perhaps they could both go, either by leaving out a more attacking player or by overlooking France stalwart Blaise Matuidi.

Matuidi moved from PSG to Juventus in the summer, though, so he has hardly fallen out of the European spotlight. Adrien Rabiot remains crucial to PSG and the national team and will be a vital replacement should anything happen to Pogba. This is one of several spots in the side where Deschamps is spoiled for choice.

Attacking Midfielders

Francois Mori

And speaking of spoiled for choice.

"Attacking midfielders" here means "forwards who are not centre-forwards," essentially those who will make up the three should Deschamps play a 4-2-3-1.

The France manager has so much choice. In this squad makeup, he is selecting from an incredibly talented bunch, which includes the following list:

• Antoine Griezmann
• Dimitri Payet
• Thomas Lemar
• Ousmane Dembele
• Kingsley Coman
• Anthonyn Martial
• Nabil Fekir
• Florian Thauvin

Griezmann is obviously the pick of the bunch. Payet has been a regular for Deschamps and offers a different kind of threat to the rest, based around guile and use of the ball. In March, we suggested Lemar and Dembele would be the other two chosen, and while Deschamps has regularly selected Thauvin and Coman started against the Netherlands, it is hard to imagine him leaving any of those four out.

Lemar scored twice against Netherlands, and Dembele has just moved to Barcelona, which will give him experience at an even higher level.

Players like Coman and Martial could make themselves imperative selections if they have the right kind of seasons, but whatever happens, some players that would walk into other nations' first XIs will spend summer 2018 missing out on the World Cup because they are French.

Centre-Forwards

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Olivier Giroud will be an automatic selection. Giroud is a player whose international form—or at least his importance to his country—seems to exceed his importance to his club. That's to the extent the player who will often keep him out of the first XI at Arsenal may well start on the bench behind him for France.

In March, we suggested Kevin Gameiro might go ahead of Alexandre Lacazette, who remained mostly ignored by Deschamps, but that seems to have changed. Lacazette came off the bench against both the Netherlands and Luxembourg. He likely has the backup role to Giroud nailed down, as odd as it is that they have their roles reversed for club and country.

And Kylian Mbappe's high-profile loan move to PSG means he will have a chance to play alongside Neymar and develop at an even higher level. While his move might leave a sour taste in the mouths of fans of other Ligue 1 clubs, the national team should benefit.

Goalkeepers: Hugo Lloris, Alphonse Areola, Steve Mandanda.

Full-Backs: Djibril Sidibe, Christophe Jallet, Benjamin Mendy, Layvin Kurzawa.

Centre-Backs: Raphael Varane, Laurent Koscielny, Samuel Umtiti, Presnel Kimpembe, Kurt Zouma.

Midfielders: Paul Pogba, N'Golo Kante, Adrien Rabiot, Corentin Tolisso.

Attacking Midfielders: Antoine Griezmann, Dimitri Payet, Ousmane Dembele, Thomas Lemar.

Forwards: Olivier Giroud, Alexandre Lacazette, Kylian Mbappe.

With thanks to Tom Coast of Sport Witness for his invaluable input.