The sprint to the final came to an abrupt end on the eve of the final, as the French soccer team's attempt to defend their World Cup title suffered a major blow at the final hurdle. Striker Benzema, who has been hailed as the "Ballon d'Or" winner, suffered another injury on Saturday (19) during recovery training. After military doctors diagnosed the thigh injury is serious, the French national team chief coach Sunday (20) officially announced Benzema will miss the World Cup, coach Dee Gans expressed "extreme sadness" at the result.
Benzema has been plagued by injuries at Real Madrid this season, playing just 26 minutes in November. He trained for the first time since arriving in Qatar on Saturday, but felt a sharp pain in his thigh during a sprinting session. an MRI revealed a torn muscle, and he is expected to miss three weeks, with no chance of a comeback until the quarter-finals to the final at the earliest. The head coach of the French national team made a painful decision to give up.
Coach Digance said, "I am extremely sad for Benzema, who has always had the World Cup as his biggest goal. Despite suffering such a big blow now, I still have full confidence in the French team. We will do our best to meet any challenge in front of us." With Benzema's injury, his arrow position is expected to be taken over by another veteran, Kylian Mbappe.
Benzema was France's leading scorer at the 2014 World Cup, but was only recalled last year after serving a five-year ban for allegedly blackmailing a teammate. He has reached the pinnacle of his career in recent seasons and last month won the Ballon d'Or, the highest honor for a player. This is the first time since Denmark's Johan Simonsen sat out the 1978 World Cup that a past Ballon d'Or winner has not participated.
In a social media post, Benzema said, "Never in my life have I tried to give up, but today I have to look out for the team, as I have always done. Rationality tells me that I'm going to leave this position of mine to someone who can help France succeed in the World Cup. Thank you all for your interest, good wishes and support."
France are in Group D at this year's World Cup and will face Australia in their first group game in the early hours of Wednesday morning (23rd), along with Denmark and Tunisia. FIFA allows teams to change their roster before the first group game, and the French national team coach-in-chief has yet to decide whether to add a player to replace Benzema.
