BENZEMA. Karim Benzema may not participate in the 2022 World Cup. Injured in training on Saturday evening with the Blues, the striker of the France team is already forfeited for the first match against Australia but the type of injury concerned for the competition.
[Mis à jour le 19 novembre 2022 à 21h43] The training of the French team on Saturday evening in Doha, three days before the entry into the running of the Blues on Tuesday against Australia, was to mark a rise in power with the highly anticipated return of Karim Benzema and Raphaël Varane to collective training, after several days away marked by treatments and exercises aimed at getting them back on their feet and reassuring them before the first match. Alas, it turned to disaster since Karim Benzema, the star scorer of the Blues, recent Ballon d’Or 2022, was injured and had to leave the session hastily. According to RMC Sport, the former Lyonnais injured himself during a race and left his partners.
A muscle injury that leaves little chance of recovery
The verdict seems serious with a muscular injury announced by several media present on the spot including the newspaper L’Equipe which evokes “a sharp muscular pain in the left quadriceps”. It is therefore not a relapse of the initial injury of Karim Benzema, hit in the hamstrings who had hardly played in competition with the real Madrid since more than a month. An MRI must be carried out in the evening Saturday evening but the hour is well with the concern in the blue staff. Karim Benzema’s injury and lack of increased rhythm leave no doubt about the Madrid striker’s withdrawal for the first meeting of the group stage this Tuesday, November 22, 2022 against Australia.
A player called urgently by Monday? What tactic?
Can he be reinstated for the other two group matches against Denmark on November 26 and Tunisia on November 30? The option seems very optimistic and we are heading towards a package for Karim Benzema, who would thus be deprived of a second World Cup, he who had reached the quarter-finals with the Blues in 2014 in Brazil before being dismissed. before Euro 2016 and the 2018 World Cup. In the event of Karim Benzema’s withdrawal, Didier Deschamps can call a replacement up to 24 hours before the first match, i.e. until Monday 8 p.m. in order to complete his group. Already at the beginning of the week, the coach had finally chosen to call on a 26th player to complete his initial list of 25 players and had opted for an attacker, the player from Mönchengladbach Marcus Thuram. Christopher Nkunku’s withdrawal from injury in training on Monday night led ‘DD’ to call up Randal Kolo Muani, another striker.
Will Karim Benzema’s more than likely withdrawal also upset the tactical plans of the France team, as Didier Deschamps seemed to be heading for a 4-2-3-1 similar to that of 2018 with Adrien Rabiot in the middle being able to switch to the left to block the wing, Antoine Griezmann as a real playmaker, Karim Benzema at the forefront and Kylian Mbappé on the right. For the first match against Australia, Didier Deschamps already seemed to want to do without the uncertain Karim Benzema and line up a 4-2-3-1 with Aurélien Tchouaméni and Adrien Rabiot in the middle, behind a trident composed of Kylian Mbappé on the left , Antoine Griezmann as playmaker, Ousmane Dembélé on the right and Olivier Giroud alone at the forefront, according to findings made by RMC Sport in view of the first training sessions of the Blues.