The curse of the defending champions will haunt the injury-plagued France team when it begins its title defense journey at the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar against Australia next Tuesday, in a repeat of its successful start in the 2018 edition in Russia.

Thanks to a penalty awarded by the video assistant referee and a deflected ball from Paul Pogba, France, coached by coach Didier Deschamps, beat Australia 2-1 four years ago and then went on to continue their winning streak and finally claim their second title in the Russian capital, Moscow.

France, the defending champion, suffered a severe defeat at the start of its journey to defend the title in 2002 against Senegal, in the first appearance of the African team in the World Finals.

Since the 2002 edition, Brazil has only won its first match as defending champions in the 2006 finals.

French defender Lucas Hernandez said last Friday, “Now all the teams want to win against France. All the teams want to beat us.”

“We believe in our abilities. It will really be a battle. And after we start our career against Australia, the picture will become clear before us.”

After stumbling in the first match of the title defense, France in 2002, Italy in 2010, Spain in 2014 and Germany in 2018 failed to pass the group stage in these versions and deposited the tournament early.

France’s preparations for the Qatar finals were not easy at all due to a decline in level and the absence of prominent midfielders Pogba and N’Golo Kante due to injury.

The French national team received another strong blow yesterday, Saturday, when Karim Benzema, the winner of the Golden Ball for the best player in the world, was excluded from the squad due to a thigh injury.

Coach Deschamps has the luxury of summoning Olivier Giroud to join Kylian Mbappe and Antoine Griezmann in the offensive line, after this trio achieved clear success in the 2018 edition in Russia.

Australia coach Graham Arnold does not have this type of player to choose from and will rely on the physical strength and fighting spirit that characterizes his team in order to achieve the first victory at the start of the team’s journey in the World Finals since 2010.

And if the Australian team, which will face Denmark and Tunisia next in Group D, fails to achieve this goal, then it will have great difficulty avoiding a repeat of its resounding 4-0 defeat against Germany, which ended its career before it actually began in 2010.

Although Arnold’s team qualified for the finals with difficulty when they defeated Peru in a play-off for the qualifiers last June, the coach decided to use a number of strikers who are characterized by high self-confidence despite their lack of experience.

“This is our first World Cup experience and we really want to surprise the world,” Australian winger Orr Mabil said.

“I think we have the quality to do that. We just have to show what we have.”