#BetKing Gives Best Odds Predictions As #Benzema Or #Mbappe Leads France In #Qatar 2022 #FIFAWorldCup—–After a disastrous EURO 2020 tournament, France head into the World Cup with several key players missing but are still one of the top three favorites to win the World Cup.
Karim Benzema’s Balon d’Or victory was another boon for Les Blues – having the world’s best player in your ranks is a setback for any opponent before the game even starts. Given that the Real Madrid forward will be eager to retain his newly minted award, how will this fit in with the aspirations of Kylian Mbappe, France’s No. 10, to win the same award?
Read on below for BetKing’s take on the issue!
Whose team is it?
Ahead of the 2022 World Cup, France is at a crossroads. The reigning champions are caught between two stools: whose team is it really?
On the one hand, there is Kylian Mbappe. The Paris Saint-Germain attacker was the breakout star of their triumph in 2018, terrifying opponents with his speed on the break and becoming the youngest player since Pele to score in a World Cup final.
On the other hand, is Karim Benzema, reigning Ballon d’Or winner and the best centre-forward in the game today. The Real Madrid man, at the age of 34, is in the best form of his career, and will certainly start upfront for Les Bleus in Qatar.
Ordinarily, this would not be an issue. Mbappe and Benzema have an affinity for each other; it was the former who interceded for the latter’s return to the national team fold after a long absence. There is a little more to it, however.
How France won their last World Cups
When France won the World Cup in Russia, it was with both Olivier Giroud and Antoine Griezmann playing unselfish, workmanlike roles to enable Mbappe to fly in attack. Benzema in the starting XI will mean Giroud drops to the bench, and while in theory that is a clear upgrade on ability, it affects the team’s attacking dynamic. Putting in a better player does not always equal having a better team.
When France first won the World Cup in 1998, the players who got the bulk of the credit were Zinedine Zidane, Emmanuel Petit, Thierry Henry, and Fabien Barthez. Also important, however, was less-heralded No 9, Stephane Guivarc’h who played a selfless role just like Olivier Giroud would 20 years later. Both Number 9s endured goalless campaigns but were effective foils for their more famous teammates.
Moving on from Olivier Giroud
France found this out to their detriment at last year’s Euros. Despite Benzema’s disrespectful labelling of Giroud as a ‘go-kart’, it was obvious that Didier Deschamps’ side was weaker than the sum of their parts without the AC Milan striker. France struggled to get going and won just one of four matches at the Euros.
The trouble was that, too often, Mbappe and Benzema were in each other’s spaces between the lines. Since 2018, the PSG star has clearly grown in stature within French football, and now is keen to participate in the general play a little more. With both him and Benzema in the team, France can lack a presence inside the penalty area to finish moves. This is what has made Giroud such a good foil for him in whatever guise: when the youngster stretched defences, the AC Milan man’s ability to come toward the ball and hold it up came to the fore; as Mbappe has evolved, Giroud’s ability to attack crosses into the box has been most prominent.
Of course, neither role is beyond Benzema’s abilities at all. The five-time Champions League winner is the epitome of the complete striker. However, it requires humility to alter one’s style completely based on what a teammate wants to do in different phases. Giroud, having almost no ego at all, has typically had no qualms with this (it is worth remembering he did not score in France’s run to glory at the last World Cup), and can focus on making Mbappe look good.
Benzema is far from selfish but turning him to a target man for the World Cup would be an underutilization of his qualities. To play his best football, the Real Madrid striker needs to be allowed to drift and take up the spaces he sees fit, not those dictated by another player. For Mbappe to play his best football, he needs other members of the team to follow his lead as a reference point and play in a way to get the best out of him.
BetKing’s verdict
Essentially, it comes down to a simple consideration: which of the two, at his best, is more crucial to France’s chances of World Cup success? His country’s first Ballon d’Or winner for 24 years, or one of the most athletically freakish footballers the game has ever seen?
Whose effect would be most transformative? Which player is more “special” in terms of characteristics?
Benzema may be the best player in the world, but Mbappe is a force of nature, the one player in the France squad that cannot be stopped at his best. And if both are to co-exist, it is clear which of them would need to adapt, especially considering the designs of the younger player on winning a Ballon d’Or of his own.
If Mbappe were to win, say, the Golden Boot at the World Cup, it would immediately boost his chances in this respect. Denmark, Australia, and Tunisia are a manageable grouping that will give Mbappe a chance to run up his goalscoring numbers early on.
If, in addition, PSG make a deep run in – or even win outright – the UEFA Champions League come the end of the season, his chances will improve even more.
It is clear who France should, and most likely will, optimize for. Les Bleus can reach an untouchable level with Benzema playing at 50% of his abilities, as long as it means Mbappe is at 100% of his. The same is not necessarily true the other way around.
French fans will hope that they both remember that, whatever their personal goals, they both want the same thing – to see France win the World Cup.
Bet on their star forwards to fire France to World Cup glory @ 7.00 with BetKing.
Bet on both forwards to fire France to a top 2 spot in the World Cup at 3.75 with BetKing
