Saint-Denis (AFP)

The French world champions launch their qualifying campaign for the World Cup-2022 in Qatar on Wednesday (8:45 pm / 7:45 pm GMT) in Saint-Denis by receiving Ukraine, a "direct opponent" that Didier Deschamps' team would be wrong under -estimate despite the 7-1 beating inflicted in the fall.

Before starting a marathon of three matches in eight days, the coach of the Blues can already be satisfied with having dribbled two dreaded pitfalls: the twenty-six players summoned arrived without serious injury to be noted, Monday at Clairefontaine, and each antigenic and PCR tests performed were negative.

In these times of pandemic, it is already a first concern of dismissal and the French, little varnished in the matter during the last gatherings, will be able to concentrate on their sporting objectives.

Facing the "Zbirna" led by ex-Ballon d'Or Andrei Shevchenko is a first summit in this qualifying group also populated by Kazakhstan and Bosnia-Herzegovina, where the French travel next.

Ukraine, rolled 7-1 in early October in a friendly at the Stade de France, will surely oppose a resistance closer to that of the epic barrage of 2013 when the Blues, defeated 2-0 in Kiev, had snatched their ticket for the Brazilian World Cup after a heroic second leg (3-0).

"Our friendly match did not reflect the real difference in level that there is between the two nations, there were a lot of absentees," said goalkeeper Hugo Lloris.

In fact, the yellow and blue selection was then strongly weakened by a wave of Covid-19 contaminations, especially among its stars of Shakhtar Donetsk.

That did not prevent her, six days later, from bringing down 1-0 a team from Spain that had come to challenge her with David de Gea, Sergio Ramos and Ansu Fati.

Since October, "we have been able to strengthen our team. The players will show what they are capable of and I am sure they will do their best," Shevchenko said on Tuesday.

Deschamps also drew that same day a glowing portrait of his opponent, "a team that likes to have the ball", endowed with "good technical mastery" and capable of hurting "placed attacks".

The coach knows that one of the keys to the match will lie in the ability of his players to repeat their efforts for 90 minutes, despite the hellish pace of an ultra dense season.

- Retaliatory ghosts -

Playing two days after the start of the rally, "it's not easy" summarized Raphaël Varane, especially as "two trips including one quite far" will follow in Nur-Sultan (ex-Astana), the Kazakh capital.

"It's a question of adaptation but you can't play with the handbrake or being afraid of getting injured," said the central defender of Real Madrid.

For example, the 27-year-old former Lensois has already played no less than 36 club matches this season, the Champions League included.

"We are used to stringing together matches every three days since the start of the season, so we will do it with the France team," however relativized Lloris, the irremovable goalkeeper of Tottenham.

Deschamps, whose team has been unbeaten in official competition since June 2019 (a 2-0 defeat in Turkey in the context of qualifying for the Euro), will be able to draw from his extended group to boost "a rotation over these three matches", a luxury that his opponents do not necessarily have.

Less than three months before the Euro, scheduled from June 11 to July 11, emulation should also be present within the world champion team, with ghosts eager to score points before the announced list in May.

This will be the case in particular for Tanguy Ndombélé, Thomas Lemar and Alphonse Areola, no longer seen in the selection since November 2019, as well as for Ousmane Dembélé.

The twirling winger of FC Barcelona has not worn the tricolor tunic since November 2018.

© 2021 AFP