After firing Real Madrid to a Champions League and LaLiga double with 42 goals in 44 games and returning to the France national team with a Nations League title, Karim Benzema beat Sadio Mané and Kevin De Bruyne to the 2022 Ballon d'Or on Monday. To celebrate the occasion, adidas — which has counted Benzema among its stable of athletes for over a decade now — dropped a new signature cleat for Real's captain.
FRANKFURT, Germany - Defending champions Italy will face England in their Euro 2024 qualifying group, a repeat of last year's tournament final, following the draw on Sunday in Frankfurt's Festhalle.
The Italians, who beat England 3-2 on penalties at London's Wembley stadium in 2021 to lift the trophy will also play North Macedonia, who prevented Roberto Mancini's side from reaching the World Cup, and Malta in Group C.
An Under-18 international between France and Poland was abandoned with 13 minutes remaining when the French were reduced to seven players after they picked up four red cards at the Limoges tournament on Sunday.
France and Poland were drawing 2-2 – a result that would have guaranteed France victory in the tournament – after 27 minutes following a frantic start, before the hosts lost the plot after the break.
Ilyes Housni was the first to see red, in the 55th minute, before Jeanuel Belocian was also sent off six minutes later.
PARIS - France kept their hopes of staying in the top tier of the Nations League alive as goals by Kylian Mbappé and Olivier Giroud secured a 2-0 home victory over Austria on Thursday.
Mbappé opened the scoring with a stunning goal before Giroud, who again showed coach Didier Deschamps he is more than a third-choice forward, sealed the world champions' win with a header.
This goal from Mbappe
KYLIAN MBAPPÉ STRIKES FIRST FOR FRANCE! pic.twitter.com/j8OHtlQylY
This week serves as the final international break before clubs must release players to their national teams just one week before the World Cup begins, so the latest squad selections should be huge indicators of the final 26-man rosters for the competing nations.
However, a look at the current teams indicates that this won't be a traditional World Cup of blockbuster snubs, but rather an exploration of player pools in an attritional battle against lingering muscle strains.
To prepare you for the tournament, The18 has launched 2022 World Cup team previews for each of the 32 nations competing in Qatar.
Below you will find each team listed along with a link to those previews that have been published. Check back throughout the buildup to the 2022 World Cup as we publish a complete list of World Cup team previews, updated with the latest on each team participating in the greatest men's soccer tournament in the world.
Youngsters and World Cups are two things that have historically got along.
From Pele in 1958 to Mbappe in 2018, young players have taken the world by storm in this tournament.
Over the last couple of years, we've been introduced to insane talents that dazzled on the biggest stage.
Hence, we feel it is important to list and rank the best young players playing at this year's World Cup.
Real Madrid’s talisman.
A well-oiled defense can be the difference between going out in the group stage and winning a tournament. Scoring four goals in a game is well and good until you turn around are realize the other team scored five. Every successful team needs to be able to keep the ball out of its own net. Defending is an art, and at the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, many artists will be on display, putting their bodies on the line to ensure their team advances to the next round. But not all defenders are created equal.
FIFA 23 news has been slow-moving after EA decided not to host its annual Play Live event in June, which traditionally served as our first look at the new technologies and features that'll grace this year's iteration. However, on Monday we got our first look at the FIFA 23 Ultimate Edition cover, featuring PSG's Kylian Mbappé and Chelsea's Sam Kerr.
Scorching temperatures are one of the many reasons Qatar is the most controversial World Cup host of all time. During June and July, the months in which the World Cup is traditionally held, temperatures in the Arab nation peak around 120 degrees Fahrenheit, a temperature at which, unsurprisingly, it is simply unsafe to play a 90+ minute soccer match.
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