France boasts one of the deepest teams in Europe, which makes obtaining minutes much more difficult.
Didier Deschamps has named Kingsley Coman to France’s World Cup team, as predicted, among a star-studded cast of attacking players. Going into the World Cup, France undoubtedly boasts one of the deepest squads position by position and is one of the favorites to reach the tournament’s final.
Coman, unfortunately, missed out on France’s World Cup 2018 triumph in Russia through a bad injury that had him sidelined for most of that corresponding season for Bayern Munich, so this is his first time going to a World Cup. He did take part in France’s Euro 2016 and Euro 2020 excursions, though, having made it all the way to the final in 2016 when France eventually lost to Portugal in extra time at the Stade de France.
Knowing his age and his injury susceptibility, Coman is realistically aware that this very well might be the only World Cup of his career. He’s said in the past that if he suffers another serious ankle injury that he might consider hanging up his boots for good, but thankfully for Bayern and France, it hasn’t yet come to that. “The World Cup is very important to me. It’s going to be my first and maybe the last because you never know about football. I’m 26 – maybe at 30 I’ll be better, but no longer at my peak physically,” Coman told kicker Frank Linkesch (as captured by
Coman knows how much skill Deschamps has at his disposal for every position, particularly attack, in Qatar. In France’s forward line, Coman will face Kylian Mbappe, Christopher Nkunku, Ousmane Dembele, Antoine Griezmann, Olivier Giroud, and Karim Benzema, making it tough for him to receive many minutes. He’s well aware of this because it relates to the systems that Deschamps prefers. “My issue is that in the last few games, we played a system without wingers – we played with two strikers and a #10.” So only the position of wing-back remained open to me. “I can play there, but it’s not my preferred position,” he said.
