There are claims out there that France have situated themselves in quite a comfortable position, with Denmark being their only real opposition. This group has even been called a “dream draw” for France. On the other hand, commentators also claim Group C to be one of the most exciting ones. There is no denying that France is the favourite squad among these fixtures, nevertheless other teams have come a long way, too.
France
The French team will begin their tournament against Australia and Peru, then finishing the group stage on a high note, rivalling against fellow Europeans Denmark. We are predicting quite a fun game because both teams know each other rather well — France and Denmark have locked horns with one another at the World Cup group stage twice, funnily enough both times in the final match of the group. First time around in 1998, France won the match, but in 2002 the Danes secured themselves a glorious victory against the reigning champions at the time. Les Bleus took home a lot of praise for their performance at the European Championship two years ago, but unfortunately it was not enough — the title was pulled out of their hands by Portugal. Didier Deschamps, former heavyweight of French football, has brought France back on track and into being a very competitive and strong team with young and dynamic players. Tournament in France 2016 was all about Atlético Madrid's Antoine Griezmann and Paul Pogba. They are without a doubt making the core this year, with newcomers like Raphael Varane of Real Madrid making quite the headlines; he is called the talent France needs right now, one of the fastest defenders in the world and a definite superstar in the years to come. Deschamps and his team have to prove that the excitement about their squad is not just a hype — are they ready to bring the Cup back to France?
Denmark
Denmark have proven to be a team that should be taken seriously. Remember 1992 when in a surprising twist to almost everyone Denmark won the European Championship in Sweden, beating such teams as The Netherlands and Germany along the way? That happened, and since then the Danish team had a visible presence in the international arena of football. They performed quite well in the World Cup as well, almost breaking all the records again in the quarter-final match against Brazil in 1998 but losing 2–3. Though Denmark haven’t played a major tournament since the 2012 European Championship, they've had quite a fun qualifying tournament, securing a 4–0 win at home against the favourite amongst the two — Poland — and winning 5–1 against Ireland in the second leg of the play-offs. The biggest star and stronghold of the squad is Christian Eriksen, and people are speculating that it is his form that could decide Denmark’s performance at the tournament. Peru and Denmark are the closest to each other in the FIFA rankings, and we expect their derby to be the key match of the group.
Peru
Peru are back at the World Cup for the first time in 36 years. Among a bunch of South American teams they were not the expressed favourites to secure a spot at the World Cup — their road to the tournament was both dramatic and somewhat surprising at the end. Yet Peru did, and they are going to compete with tough rivals. The South American squad have not played against France at the World Cup before, their first and last match happened in 1982. The Peruvian coach Ricardo Gareca, once even hated in Peru, understands the weight that has been placed on his shoulders, admitting that his team will have to face first-level world players but acknowledging that they've got their own stars and tricks. Gareca scored a goal for Argentina in 1985 that eliminated Peru in the South American qualifiers. He is in charge of Peruvians since 2015, and as a coach he has proven that he can organise a very good team for the first appearance of the team since 1982. Team's biggest marvel at the tournament is going to be the veteran Jefferson Farfán, who currently plays for Lokomotiv Moscow, and many believe that he is the one who could change the game for Peru. The team is still suffering from the uncertainty surrounding their all time top scorer and captain Paolo Guerrero who failed to his drug test and is now on a ban.
Australia
Australia is the least favourable squad of the group in terms of making it further, commentators claiming they have a tiny hope of getting past the group stage. No matter the predictions, Australia have made it to their fourth consecutive World Cup. This time, their path was not easy at all. Australia failed to secure their ticket to the Championship having a negative goal difference with Saudi Arabia. All in all, the Australian squad played 22 games in the qualifying matches, finalising their win against Honduras. The qualifying tournament was not the only difficulty Australian team had to face — head coach Ange Postecoglou left the squad shortly after Australia made it to Russia 2018. Weirdly enough, the appointment of Bert van Marwijk was not exactly met with great enthusiasm although the Dutch coach had some plausible success with Saudi Arabia, and he took the Netherlands to the final in 2010. By the way, Australia's top scorer and veteran player Tim Cahill (50 goals) has hit the ball into the net in three World Cups before, and if he is going to score in Russia this summer, the Australian star will become one of a kind because only Uwe Seeler, Pele and Miroslav Klose have scored goals in four World Cups before. But he is not the only one we will have our eyes on — Massimo Luongo, the young Australian star, and Aaron Mooy are making headlines.
Predictions are a harsh thing, and this time all the red flags are indicating that Australia have very little hope in this group, with France getting three consecutive wins. Main fight in the group is going to be for securing the second place. Do you agree with others that France are the absolute leaders?
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