What if I told you that France were without Karim Benzema, Paul Pogba, N'Golo Kante, Mike Maignan, Christopher Nkunku, Presnel Kimpembe, and Lucas Hernandez?Well, as LeVar Burton loved to say, you Joe Delamielleure Jersey don't have to take my word for it. The 2022 FIFA World Cup has put that sentiment on full display.The defending champions were beset by a ruthle s run of injuries prior to the start of the tournament that left many myself included doubting their abilities to compete amongst the world's greats in Qatar. Repeating as World Cup champions was a tough enough feat on its own, as no team has accomplished that task since 1962, but without some of their best players?Losing Benzema alone, a world-cla s goalscorer who is coming off winning the Ballon d'Or, left many thinking the task was too great for Les Bleus. Kante is maybe the world's best midfield destroyer, even with his powers beginning to diminish. Pogba is in a cla s of his own talent-wise and was critical in 2018 despite poor club form. Maignan had slowly, quietly, become a top-10 goalkeeper in the world, forcing his way into the squad with brilliant play at AC Milan. Nkunku was in great goalscoring form of his own and even more important after Benzema went down.MORE: How could a national team, even one of the deepest in the world, weather an injury crisis like that? Yet France have not only weathered the storm, they've become one themselves, an unstoppable force of attacking pre sure that has somehow looked even better than before.Yes, I said it. Better. Better than with the Ballon d'Or winner (who may yet return for the final, by the way), better than with the best defensive midfielder in the world, better than with a brilliant ball from deep, better without the top goalkeeper in the entire Italian top flight. How?Didier Deschamps, now on the precipice of World Cup immortality, has pulled off a managerial mastercla s, making all the right moves to not just Tyler Bass Jersey cover up the lo ses with a temporary bandage, but displaying utter genius in making this France side something nobody thought po sible: than they were before.2 - Didier Deschamps is the fourth manager to lead a nation to back-to-back World Cup finals, after Vittorio Pozzo with Italy (1934, 1938), Carlos Bilardo with Argentina (1986, 1990), and Franz Beckenbauer with Germany (1986, 1990). Midas. OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) Nobody in the world was better last club season than Karim Benzema. Nobody. Just ask the 100 journalists who voted for the 2021/22 Ballon d'Or, given out by France Football to the Real Madrid striker after leading Los Blancos to a La Liga and Champions League double.Meanwhile, 36-year-old Olivier Giroud, who has five goals in 13 Serie A appearances, wasn't even supposed to be in the France squad. Reports over the past few weeks suggested Didier Deschamps didn't even want to take the aging striker to Qatar altogether. Giroud, after all, was only even seeing the field at his club thanks to the continued recovery of Zlatan Ibrahimovic from a torn ACL.Then both Benzema and Christopher Nkunku went down, and he didn't have much of a choice. He'll be thanking his lucky stars. While the two individuals represent completely different styles of play, one suits this France side much better. Getty This France team flat-out plays better up front with Giroud in the side. The veteran has reinvented the attack to help focus on hold-up play before deploying his characteristic eye for goal in the final third.Consider this: in the 1-0 defeat to Croatia in the Nations League this summer, Benzema started up front for France. He had 43 touches in the match as France dominated po se sion, but they worked exclusively in the half-court, trying to break down Croatia's organized defense to no avail. Kylian Mbappe had a whopping 72 touches, but he failed to complete more than half his 10 attempted Isaiah McKenzie Jersey dribbles and was stymied. Benzema often clogged things up, drifting out wide left into Mbappe's area of the pitch.Against Morocco in the World Cup semifinals, it was a completely different story with Giroud up front. The former Arsenal and Chelsea forward had only 25 touches, and Mbappe only 37 as Morocco attempted to play defense by overwhelming the France midfield and maintaining po se sion. That only played to France's strengths, as they repeated the same plan of attack every time: lump the ball to Giroud, let him spring Mbappe and Ousmane Dembele down the flanks at breakneck speed, and give them full-back help on the overlap. It worked to perfection: Mbappe's pacey counter-attacks helped open things up for left-back Theo Hernandez, who was still able to track back to win all six of his ground duels defensively.Clearly, with Giroud, le s is so much more, and at the end of the day, despite just half the touches of Benzema in that gruesome home defeat to Croatia, Giroud managed to fire off three shots to Benzema's one and hitting the post with Jack Kemp Jersey one effort, as well as opening up space with his pinpoint off-ball runs.Utilizing a target man who provides an outlet in hold-up play, France can absorb pre sure and then relieve it by simply sending the ball to Giroud who springs the counter, putting Mbappe in a position to succeed. None of this would be po sible with the preferred attacking lineup coming into the tournament, which surely featured a healthy Benzema in that spot. And of course, Giroud played all seven games as France won the World Cup four years ago his usefulne s shouldn't come as much of a surprise.2.09 - France's Expected Goals (xG) total was twice that of opponents Morocco (0.95), despite both teams having the same number of shots on target in the match (3) and with France only attempting one more shot overall (14 v 13). Stats. OptaJean (@OptaJean) Coming into the 2022 World Cup, there was little debate what the France midfield would look like if everyone was fit to participate. N'Golo Kante, a former Ballon d'Or candidate and the finest defensive midfielder for much of the past six years, would anchor the spot, with Paul Pogba next to him. That would allow peak tactical flexibility for Didier Deschamps, who could either deploy a three-at-the-back defensive shape with bombing wing-backs, a third midfielder in a traditional 4-3-3 system, or use Antoine Griezmann as a No. 10 behind a central striker and two wingers Gregory Rousseau Jersey .None of that would come to pa s. Neither Kante nor Pogba were available as their careers came to ascreeching halt thanks to long-term fitne s i sues. That left Deschamps picking at scraps in midfield amidst a squad that included young Aurelien Tchouameni and Eduardo Camavinga joined by Adrien Rabiot, Matteo Guendouzi, and Jordan Veretout.Enter Griezmann, a France star who too often flies under the radar outside his home country. The 31-year-old had appeared in an astonishing 67 straight matches for the French national team entering the World Cup, and Deschamps asked him to change things up. Instead of his usual No. 10 or "second