One of the favorites in the 2026 World Cup, France debuts in the World Cup this Tuesday (16) at 4pm Brasília against Senegal, at the MetLife Stadium, in New Jersey.
The team led by coach Didier Deschamps and two-time world champion (1998, 2018) arrives at the World Cup with the aim of erasing or at least lessening in memory the defeat to Argentina in the final of the Qatar Cup (2022), when they lost to Lionel Messi’s team on penalties.
To start the journey well, they will have to overcome, in addition to the strong African team, a ghost from the past.
In the 2002 World Cup, France was also one of the favorites. After all, it came from a winning cycle that included the 1998 World Cup and the 2000 Euros. The debut, in Seoul, South Korea, was against Senegal, which, in one of the biggest upsets in the history of the World Cup, won 1-0.
The Africans would advance to the quarterfinals of that World Cup, when they were eliminated by Türkiye. France stopped in the first phase.
This time, even though “with valid ambitions to win the trophy”, however, the coach stated that he still does not consider his team the favorite. “We have a lot of potential, but I’m not going to say that France is better than the other teams. The big favorite is Spain, I have no doubt about that,” said Deschamps this Monday (15). Spain drew 0-0 with Cape Verde on Monday afternoon, after the Frenchman’s interview.
On the other hand, there is also a bitter taste: one of the best teams in Africa, Senegal is looking for a result that will alleviate the frustration of having won the last African Cup of Nations against Morocco on the field and then having the victory annulled by the local confederation due to the behavior of the team, which temporarily left the field during the final, in protest against the awarding of a penalty in stoppage time. The penalty was missed, the match continued and Senegal won in extra time, 1-0.
The team from the African West Coast dreams of repeating the good campaign of 2002. A victory over France, which has striker Kylian Mbappé as its star, seems difficult, but it seemed so at the time.
The star of the Senegalese national team, Sadio Mané, now at Al-Nassr, in Saudi Arabia, is participating in his second World Cup. The greatest scorer in the history of his country, he participated in the 2018 tournament in Russia and was left out in 2022 due to injury. The team hopes to at least advance to the knockout stages, with the dream of surpassing the historic 2002 campaign, when they reached the quarter-finals.
In the French team, Mbappé, the historic record holder for goals in World Cup finals (1 against Croatia in 2018 and 3 against Argentina in the 2022 final), continues to establish himself among the best in the world. If he scores five goals in this World Cup, the Frenchman, with 12 goals so far, will surpass Miroslav Klose (16) and become, at 27 years old, the top scorer in the history of the tournament.
France and Senegal, which are in Group I, are not traditional rivals in the sport. They symbolize, in the imagination of Senegalese fans and other African countries, the dispute between the old metropolis and its former colonies that are still trying to find their identity. Senegal gained its independence from France only in 1960.
After breaking the colonial bond in 1960, France and Senegal maintained good relations, but tension was always present, as throughout the African Sahel.
Just over a year ago, Senegal asked France to remove its military from Senegalese soil, ending a defense pact and sending an important signal, together with other former colonies, about the loss of French political and social capital in the region.
But perhaps the greatest demonstration of the colonial legacy is in the nationality of the players and the field. At least 18 of the 26 players in the French team, including Mbappé himself and other stars such as Ousmane Dembelé, represent the second generation, that is, they are children of immigrants who became French nationals, the majority from North Africa or West Africa.
On the Senegalese side, there is a similar movement. Defender and captain Kalidou Koulibaly was born in French territory to Senegalese immigrant parents. In a World Cup in which the migration issue is so sensitive, France and Senegal add another layer to pay attention to.
