The 2022 Qatar World Cup, which begins today with the hosts taking against Ecuador, was supposed to be KarimBenzemaās big break on theinternational scene after winning the latest edition of the Ballon dāOr award earlier in October. However, after Saturdayās training session, the striker was diagnosed with a thigh injury that would need at leastthree weeks of rest and rehabilitation.
It didnāt help that the Real Madrid striker had a preexisting knee injury when he showed up to training camp with France coach Didier Deschamps.The problem is that he participated in an inter-ranks game this weekend and now has a fresh musculoskeletal issue, ruling him out of the competition.
Randal Kolo-Muani, Kylian Mbappe, Antoine Griezmann, and Olivier Giroud are all specialized center forwards that Les Blues may rely on instead.Now that the 34-year-oldwonāt be going to the World Cup, Milan striker Giroud has again taken over as the starter in the middle of the attack.
Who will replace Karim Benzema in Franceās squad list for World Cup?
Not only will the Frenchman not be participating in the World Cup, but he joins the likes of Sadio Mane, Marco Reus, Paul Pogba, and NāGolo Kanteon the list of notable players who will not be in Qatar.Didier Deschamps still has the option of calling up a new player in Benzemaās place, and itdoesnāt look too hard to find a suitable replacement, given the nation offers a wealth of alternatives.
Although three names, in particular, were widely reported in a short amount of time. According to LāEquipe, Wissam Ben Yedder of Sevilla could be in pole position to succeed the Whitesā main star. Even Moussa Diaby, who plays for Bayer Leverkusen, is believed tocompete againstAnthony Martial andBen Yedder for getting acall from Didier Deschampsat the eleventh hour as well.
In spite of all that, Franceās coach has opted not to include a replacement striker in his World Cup roster, reducing the team from 26 to 25 players.Asked by Telefoot whether he planned to bring in a successor, Deschamps simply said, āNo.ā
The 54-year-old said why he opted not to contact anybody else: āBecause I decided, simply.Itās never fun, it doesnāt make you smile. We had already lost Christopher [Nkunku] and everyone was very sad. This is Karim.But we have a goal and the group knows very well what awaits us with a game on Tuesday. Everything was under control, he was going one step further as was the case with [Raphael] Varane. In training, getting injured can unfortunately happen. Itās never the right time.ā
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