{"id":4698,"date":"2026-07-10T11:34:40","date_gmt":"2026-07-10T11:34:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=4698"},"modified":"2026-07-10T11:34:40","modified_gmt":"2026-07-10T11:34:40","slug":"can-anyone-stop-france-after-another-dominant-world-cup-win-it-doesnt-seem-likely","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=4698","title":{"rendered":"Can anyone stop France? After another dominant World Cup win, it doesn\u2019t seem likely."},"content":{"rendered":"
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FOXBOROUGH \u2014 At the World Cup, there are often great teams on paper. They don\u2019t always deliver. <\/span><\/p>\n

Read more What went well, and what didn\u2019t work over the course of seven World Cup games in Boston?<\/a><\/p>\n

Portugal had three of the best midfielders in the world entering this tournament, but couldn\u2019t string three passes together in the middle of the pitch. England\u2019s \u201cGolden Generation\u201d of the mid-2000s could never get its stars to jell. Argentina often put plenty of talent around Lionel Messi, but never coalesced until 2022.<\/span><\/p>\n

Then there\u2019s this France team, which is delivering on every bit of promise that the pre-tournament hypotheticals suggested.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The French are in the semifinals of a third straight World Cup after capping off the Foxborough games with a 2-0 win over Morocco on Thursday. The stars delivered as they have all month, with Kylian Mbapp\u00e9 scoring his eighth goal of the tournament (and the 20th in his World Cup career) with a sensational finish, and Ousmane Demb\u00e9l\u00e9 making it 2-nil just minutes later.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

With that win, the French remained perfect at this World Cup: six games, six victories, 16 goals scored, just two conceded. Les Bleus are flying, and it\u2019s getting harder and harder to see anyone clipping their wings.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI feel very good about this team,\u201d Mbapp\u00e9 said after the win in Foxborough.<\/span><\/p>\n

It starts up front, where France has an embarrassment of riches the likes of which we perhaps have never seen at a World Cup. <\/span><\/p>\n

Mbapp\u00e9 is the talisman \u2014 perhaps the biggest star in world soccer post-Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo \u2014 and has delivered in every which way. Michael Olise has been spectacular as France\u2019s No. 10 (by position, not shirt number), even if he\u2019s yet to bag a goal for himself. Demb\u00e9l\u00e9, the reigning winner of the Ballon d\u2019Or as the best player in the world, might be the third-best forward on this team.<\/span><\/p>\n

There are young wingers D\u00e9sir\u00e9 Dou\u00e9 and Bradley Barcola, who would both start for almost any other team but have to vie against each other for playing time. The French are so stacked with attackers, Manchester City\u2019s Rayan Cherki, a recent candidate for the Premier League\u2019s player of the season, can hardly get a minute off the bench.<\/span><\/p>\n

Trying to defend against France is the World Cup\u2019s ultimate pick-your-poison, and nobody seems to have an antidote.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe had \u2060to be perfect, and even if we were, I\u2019m not sure that would have been enough,” said Sweden coach Graham Potter after a 3-0 loss in the Round of 32. Iraq coach Graham Arnold joked that he asked FIFA if his team could play with three goalkeepers to stop the French.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to acknowledge that they are such a good side,\u201d said Morocco coach Mohamed Ouahbi. \u201cThe French team is a beautiful team and have had a great team for a long time. \u2026 They have incredibly good players in attack.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThey want to go all the way to the final and win the trophy, and they have all the qualities.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Read more For Legacy FC\u2019s Lilly Reale, the best place to get better is right in her Boston backyard<\/a><\/p>\n

It\u2019s not just that the French can\u2019t stop scoring goals \u2014 they can\u2019t stop scoring great goals. Mbapp\u00e9 already has a few, with his finish into a tight window Thursday complementing a pair of stunning strikes from outside the box against Senegal and Iraq.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Demb\u00e9l\u00e9\u2019s hat trick in Foxborough against Norway in the groups was a thing of beauty, and Olise was inches from scoring the goal of the tournament against Sweden when his bicycle kick struck the post.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

It\u2019s hard to remember a scarier group of attackers at a World Cup, especially when they\u2019re as focused as the French have seemed.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI feel that we understand the potential of the team and at this time, it\u2019s not potential anymore, it\u2019s what we\u2019re actually doing,\u201d Mbapp\u00e9 said. \u201cBut the fear, the apprehension [of opponents], is not going to score any goals. It\u2019s a feeling, but feelings are not going to help you win any matches.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

France will play in the semifinals on Tuesday outside Dallas against the winner of Friday\u2019s Spain vs. Belgium quarterfinal. Whichever of those teams get through, they\u2019ll be facing a team chasing history.<\/span><\/p>\n

This France side is two wins away from going down as one of the most dominant teams the World Cup has ever seen, alongside Brazil in 1970, West Germany in 1974, and another French side from 1998, among others.<\/span><\/p>\n

France has scored the most goals at this World Cup and conceded the third fewest. Their goal difference is a plus-14, five better than any other team. Olise\u2019s five assists lead the tournament, and Mbapp\u00e9\u2019s eight goals are joint-most with Messi.<\/span><\/p>\n

Since 1970, only two teams have scored more goals at a single World Cup \u2014 Brazil in 2002 and Germany in 2014, with each scoring 18 \u2014 and France may still have two games to go.<\/span><\/p>\n

But Mbapp\u00e9, for his part, won\u2019t call this group the best French team he\u2019s played for until there\u2019s a trophy to lift.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cNo, it\u2019s not the strongest,\u201d he said. \u201c[We\u2019re] not the champion of the world, not the vice-champion of the world. It has the most potential for the time being \u2014 it\u2019s the one that you can project [forward] the best \u2014 but I\u2019ve always said that the strongest teams are the teams that actually win, and I\u2019m not seeing any World Cup next to me.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Read more Brody Bumila has a UCL injury, but how much will that affect his draft status?<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The French have been perfect: six games, six wins, 16 goals scored, just two conceded. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4697,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4698","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sport"],"yoast_head":"\nCan anyone stop France? After another dominant World Cup win, it doesn\u2019t seem likely. - Boston Relocation Insider<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=4698\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Can anyone stop France? 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