World Cup preview: Mbappe is absent, France won a 3-goal victory against Azerbaijan last time
6686 Sports News on November 16th. At 1:00 on November 17th, Beijing time, in the 10th round of Group D of the World European Preliminaries, Azerbaijan sat at the home team to face France.
France and Azerbaijan currently have “no desires and no demands.” France scored 13 points with 4 wins and 1 draw in 5 games, scored 13 goals and conceded 3 goals. It has secured the top spot in the group and successfully advanced to the World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico. During this period, they defeated Ukraine 2-0, Iceland 2-1, Azerbaijan 3-0, drew 2-2 with Iceland, and defeated Ukraine 4-0.
Azerbaijan has only accumulated 1 point from 5 games, 1 draw and 4 losses, and has been confirmed to be ranked at the bottom. During the period, Azerbaijan suffered a 0-5 defeat to Iceland, a 1-1 draw with Ukraine, a 0-3 loss to France, a 1-2 loss to Ukraine, and a 0-2 loss to Iceland. Azerbaijan's performance on both offense and defense was far from ideal, scoring only 2 goals in 5 World European preliminaries (an average of 0.4 goals per game), but conceding as many as 2.6 goals per game.
The gap between the two sides in FIFA points ranking is clear at a glance. France’s FIFA ranking ranks third in the world, while Azerbaijan’s FIFA ranking ranks only 123rd in the world.
A few days ago, the French team officially announced that Mbappe will leave the team because he still needs to be checked for inflammation in his right ankle and will not travel with the team to Azerbaijan to participate in the World Cup preliminaries. Camavinga also left the team due to injury, while Cone left the team due to suspension. In addition to Mbappe and Camavinga, Dembele and Chuameni were not selected for this period's squad due to injuries. The absence of Mbappe and Dembele means that forward players such as Barkola and Ekitic must bear the responsibility.
Talking about the game against France, Azerbaijan coach Abbasov said in an interview before the game: "The players are eager to score points. Although the opponent is France, everything is possible. In the game against France, some adjustments will be made to the lineup. I hope the new players can go all out and show their strength." Azerbaijan defender Badalov In an interview before the game, he said: "I hope we can play a wonderful game. Without Mbappe, the game may be more difficult, because the opponent will treat this game more carefully." French coach Deschamps said in an interview before the game about this game: "We will try our best to win. This is our goal and responsibility."
On October 11 this year, France had a confrontation with Azerbaijan in the 7th round of Group D of the World European Preliminaries. France 3-0 Azerbaijan. Mbappe scored in that game.