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Group D teams
- France
- Australia
- Denmark
- Tunisia
Group D fixtures
All times GMT
- Denmark vs Tunisia: 1pm, Tues 22 Nov (Education City)
- France vs Australia: 7pm, Tues 22 Nov (Al Janoub)
- Tunisia vs Australia: 10am, Sat 26 Nov (Al Janoub)
- France vs Denmark: 4pm, Sat 26 Nov (Stadium 974)
- Tunisia vs France: 3pm, Weds 30 Nov (Education City)
- Australia vs Denmark: 3pm, Weds 30 Nov (Al Janoub)
France
How they qualified
Qualification from a five-team group containing Finland and Kazakhstan was always going to be a cakewalk. France did unexpectedly draw three games against Ukraine (twice) and Bosnia (at home), but none of those damaged their chances of making Qatar in any way. The only real shock is that a squad blessed with lots of attacking talent managed to only score 18 goals in their eight qualifiers, eight of which came in the home game against Kazakhstan. Ten goals in the other seven matches, given the quality of the opponents, is a pretty miserable record.
Biggest strength
Two years ago, it was accepted that France had the deepest pool of players in world football. If we ignore injury issues for a second, the sheer number of high-level central defenders, for example, is a joke: Raphael Varane, Wesley Fofana, William Saliba, Ibrahima Konate, Presnel Kimpembe, Jules Kounde, Dayot Upamecano, Lucas Hernandez, Clement Lenglet, Kurt Zouma. Didier Deschamps could pick an outfield team made up of centre-backs who would probably make any other squad in this tournament. Fofana, Kimpembe, Lenglet and Zouma missed out.
In the final third, France probably have the perfect blend of forwards. Karim Benzema is back and had the season of his life in 2021-22, Ousmane Dembele is rejuvenated at Barcelona and Kylian Mbappe is Kylian Mbappe. If those are the three starters, that leaves Antoine Griezmann, Olivier Giroud, Kingsley Coman and Randal Kolo Muani on the bench – each provide something different. How can this squad fail?
Greatest weakness
Central midfield would have been as stacked as every other part of the team but for injuries to Paul Pogba and N’Golo Kante; if there were doubts about their club form, both would have started in Qatar. Their absence does create uncertainty. Eduardo Camavinga and Aurelien Tchouameni have been hailed as the future of France and Real Madrid’s midfield, but both may now be starters out of necessity.
More generally, France are suffering from the same fears as England. What appeared to be a brilliant squad 18 months ago has lost a little of its shine due to recent sticky performances, occasional poor results, Nations League setbacks and the accusation that a risk-averse manager is holding them back. For Deschamps, that is far less forgivable given the strength in depth and attacking options. Anything less than an appearance in the final should be regarded as significant underachievement.
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Star player
Mbappe’s reputation off the pitch is open to interpretation after leaks over his stratospheric wage, his reported demand for influence at Paris Saint-Germain and links with a move to Real Madrid. His reputation among French supporters and team-mates is also complicated after the reaction to his penalty shootout miss at Euro 2020.
But you cannot doubt the weight of Mbappe’s talent and his potential to run ragged over this half of the World Cup draw. If he fires – and he probably will – France can get to the final without playing either of the two pre-tournament, South American favourites.
Manager
The great question of French football is whether the country’s success in winning the 2018 World Cup was achieved because of Deschamps’ coaching and man management or in spite of it. His critics would point to diminishing goalscoring returns and an outrageous pool of players, plus the misery of Euro 2020 when France drew with Hungary and Portugal and then lost on penalties to Switzerland. Deschamps hung on despite the noise but is now in a position where he probably needs to become the second manager in history to win two World Cups just to keep his job.
Prediction
The talent will outweigh the doubts, but I’m predicting a reverse of the 1998 final: France lose to Brazil. Runners-up.
Australia
How they qualified
Everything looked rosy when Australia won all eight of their first-stage group games, scoring 28 goals and conceding just two. But then Graham Arnold’s team came unstuck, winning only four of their 10 matches in the second stage and taking one point from four matches against Saudi Arabia and Japan. The first play-off against United Arab Emirates was won 2-1 before a dramatic, glorious penalty shootout win against Peru secured their place in Qatar. Even so, that qualifying struggle should pour cool water on their hopes of overachievement.
Biggest strength
Without the obvious stars of previous campaigns – Tim Cahill, Harry Kewell, Mark Viduka and the like – Australia are going to have to be incredibly solid and hope to create space out wide on the counter. That suits the squad too: Matthew Leckie and Jason Cummings have been in good form domestically and Jackson Irvine has settled in at St Pauli. Two of those three may start and they can create space for playmaker Ajdin Hrustic. Garang Kuol is 18 and the great new hope of Australian football – he will join Newcastle in January.
Defensively, Arnold can call on a number of promising young players: Harry Souttar at Stoke City and Kyle Rowles at Hearts could well start as a pairing if they are prepared to sacrifice experience. Tom Rogic, now at West Brom, was surprisingly left out of the squad, answering the question of how to get him and Hrustic into the same team without compromising on defensive solidity.
Greatest weakness
Firstly, Australia simply don’t score enough goals. Leckie is the top international goalscorer in this squad with 13; next come Mitchell Duke and Awer Mabil with eight each. Martin Boyle’s form for Hibernian in the Scottish Premiership offered some hope of a reprieve, but he has since sustained an injury that will not bar him from travelling to Qatar but must raise doubts about his fitness.
In general, injuries are a problem for a squad very light on depth. Hrustic has been injured and will not play any club football before Qatar. Souttar has only just returned from an ACL injury. Rowles is still out. Maty Ryan Awer Mabil have struggled for minutes at club level. Were everyone else fit, you would be happy to take a gamble on the fitness of certain players, but that simply isn’t the case.
Star player
It’s probably still Aaron Mooy, although he’s hardly the personality of a superstar. Now at Celtic under the stewardship of compatriot Ange Postecoglou, Mooy enjoyed a successful spell in China after leaving the Premier League and has the ability to protect the ball and set the tempo in midfield. Whether that is going to be enough given the options around him remains to be seen, but there is a chance that Australia may surprise a few people simply because expectations are far lower than in recent tournaments. Unfortunately, that means at least taking a point off Denmark. Christian Eriksen vs Aaron Mooy – hmmm.
Manager
Arnold probably suffers from not being Postecoglou, an engaging and tactically adventurous coach. His tenure in charge has hardly been a roaring success, given their quarter-final loss to UAE at the 2019 Asian Cup and subsequent struggles in their second qualifying group. But Arnold is also in charge of a mediocre squad of players and is understandably unconvinced that attacking, front-foot football is the right option. Whatever happens, he will leave his job after this tournament and has spoken of a desire to move back into the club game, potentially in MLS.
Prediction
They can beat Tunisia, although they might not. They cannot beat France or Denmark. So they go home early. Group-stage exit.
Denmark
How they qualified
Denmark were handed a relatively gentle qualifying group, particularly after it became clear that Austria were not contenders, and they sailed through it with absolute comfort. The only blemish came in a 2-0 defeat against Scotland, but Denmark had already qualified having won all of their first nine matches and were barely bothered. That they only conceded one goal in those first nine games vs six in eight games in Euro 2020 qualifying, suggests that they will be mighty hard to break down in Qatar.
Biggest strength
Probably the two central midfielders, whichever two of Thomas Delaney, Matthias Jensen, Jesper Lindstrom and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg are picked. They are unlikely to be the two best players in Denmark’s team, but having switched to a back three they are absolutely crucial. With the wing-backs overlapping and the outside central defenders moving right and left to cover the space, those two holding midfielders protect Denmark against counter attacks. They are spoilers, runners, tacklers and sprinters and they are brilliant at it.
Joakim Maehle came of age at Euro 2020 and allows whoever starts on the left of the two players behind the striker – probably Christian Eriksen – to stay infield and find pockets of space. Eriksen’s chance creation from open play is the key here, because Denmark do lack a prolific goalscorer.
Which brings us to the final point: Denmark are very good at sharing the goals around. At Euro 2020, they had seven different scorers. In World Cup qualifying, they had 18 different scorers. That’s more than England, who picked much-changed teams against San Marino and scored 15 goals against them.
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Greatest weakness
It’s not a weakness per se, but at Euro 2020, Denmark were clearly able to use the awful experience that Eriksen suffered to galvanise them to do their best in support of their stricken colleague and were also the beneficiaries of being the tournament’s dark horses. They aren’t going to enjoy that same tag in Qatar; everyone knows that Denmark are legitimately a very good team and will not take them likely.
The lack of goalscorer hasn’t been a problem given the variety of scorers, but they would still prefer to have one. Having one player in the squad with almost 30 more international goals than any other is not that unusual, but that top goalscorer (Eriksen) being a midfielder really is.
Finally, Denmark have physically imposing, aerially dominant central defenders but there is a suspicion that, in their formation, if you rob them of possession and attack before the wing-backs have had a chance to get back, those defenders can be dragged out of position and lack the speed to prevent quick counter attacks.
Star player
It was Eriksen before Euro 2020 and it is Eriksen now, which is frankly unbelievable given what he went through in the interim. If his decision to join Manchester United without a goodbye to Brentford supporters lost him a few friends in west London, his increasing importance to Erik ten Hag proves that he made the right call. Eriksen is a professional athlete who would prefer his football to talk for him, but it really would be the most sensational story if he can lead Denmark deep into this World Cup given what happened to him at his last major tournament.
Manager
You may remember Kasper Hjulmand’s name if you’ve ever checked the odds when a team ranked between seventh in the Premier League and sixth in the Championship sacks their manager. Hjulmand is understandably a man reportedly in demand and one who believes that his work with the national team is not done. Having developed as a manager during two spells at FC Nordsjaelland, he took over from Age Hareide in 2019 and earned huge praise for his tactical approach and his management of that grim period during Euro 2020. If Denmark succeed again in Qatar, Hjulmand will be the darling of forward-thinking, long-termist club owners everywhere.
Prediction
They will surely have too much for Tunisia and Australia. But unless they can pip France, they will lose to Messi and co in the last 16. No magic here – last-16 exit
Tunisia
How they qualified
Tunisia stumbled their way through their first qualifying group, losing away in Equatorial Guinea and somehow failing to score against Mauritania in Nouakchott. But halfway through this year’s Africa Cup of Nations (from which they were eliminated by Burkina Faso), manager Mondher Kebaier went home with Covid-19 and his assistant Jalel Kadri took over, subsequently replacing him on a permanent basis. The play-off round draw was kind and Tunisia beat Mali 1-0 over two legs to reach Qatar.
Biggest strength
You will learn all you need to know about Tunisia within 10 minutes of their opening game. To describe this team as rugged and defensively dour would be an understatement. At Afcon earlier this year, they scored four goals against Mauritania and once in their other four matches combined. They will try to beat you by breaking your spirit, by heading away or clearing every ball that comes into their box and by scoring goals however and from whoever they can.
This is not a beauty contest. Tunisia are unlikely to win many friends for their aesthetic escapades in Qatar, but why should they care? This isn’t horse dancing, it’s dog-eat-dog football and there are few teams more prepared to do the dirty work to try and make it happen. It may well not be enough against better teams, but you can’t really argue that Tunisia should approach this tournament in any other way.
Greatest weakness
For all that Tunisia are happy to rely upon a strong defence, it’s obvious that they need to score more goals. Their World Cup play-off was an emphatic example: one own goal across 180 minutes to take them through. Wahbi Khazri is the greatest goal threat, but he suffers slightly because he would be better serving a striker than playing as one; the same is true of Youssef Msakni. Is Seifeddine Jaziri really going to score enough goals?
While Hannibal Mejbri has enjoyed fleeting first-team appearances for Manchester United, Tunisia also lack the high-level European club football experience that other African nations at this tournament possess. No Tunisian player competed in the Champions League this season and only three (Aissa Laidouni, Ellyes Skhiri and Sayfallah Ltaief) played in the Europa League and Europa Conference League combined. By way of comparison, Ghana are Africa’s lowest-ranked team in Qatar and they can boast 24 players in those three competitions.
Star player
It’s still Khazri, who at 31 is now Tunisia second highest goalscorer of all time and will play at his seventh major tournament. The move to Sunderland in 2016 may have been an expensive mistake on their part, but Khazri is a consistent performer in French football and got a move to Montpellier after St Etienne’s relegation to Ligue 2 last season. He hasn’t started every Ligue 1 game this season, but Khazri remains vital to Tunisia mustering creativity from open play. He will probably score one wonder goal as his team is eliminated.
Manager
Kadri has enjoyed a slightly comical career as a kind of football management short-term gun for hire. At the age of 50, he has been employed no fewer than 22 times at club level and still somehow found time to coach Tunisia’s Under-20 team and be the assistant coach to the national team in two separate spells. Having earned the top job through Covid-19 circumstances, this is his chance to shine. Either that or continue to play the same way that his predecessor did.
Prediction
They have it in them to beat Australia, but then it’s going to be a question of frustrating better-class opposition. Group-stage exit.
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