Didier Deschamps Starts France Football Mission Against Senegal
France football opened its World Cup campaign against Senegal on Tuesday night at 21 hours near New York, with Didier Deschamps beginning what the article frames as his last dance at the tournament. The match came 24 years after France’s 0-1 loss to Senegal in Seoul, and it did so in a 48-team World Cup that gives the third-place route more room than before.
Deschamps Sets Spain Ahead
Deschamps pointed to Spain as the team to beat, saying Monday: "Le grand favori, c'est l'Espagne". Spain had just drawn 0-0 against Cape Verde while trying to shake off the favorite tag, which gave France a direct marker for where the pressure sits in the opening days of the tournament.
That frame matters because France arrived with a recent tournament record that still carries weight. It has reached two straight World Cup finals and four of the last seven editions, so the opener near New York was not just the first game of the campaign but the first test of whether that run can continue in a format that now includes 48 teams and eight advancing third-place teams out of twelve.
Mbappé and Kanté Travel
Kylian Mbappé was on a mission again, and Deschamps protected him from a long round trip by car while bringing N'Golo Kanté with him. Those choices fit a France side trying to start cleanly in a match that already carried old history, with Senegal arriving 24 years after the teams last met at a World Cup.
Senegal was not a simple opening opponent. The team has ten players born in France, and it won the Africa Cup of Nations on the field, giving France a first-night challenge built around familiarity as much as form.
New York Final Site
The stadium used for the opener will also host the next World Cup final, which gives France an immediate look at a venue that could matter again later in the tournament. Deschamps was preparing for his seventh opening match as France coach in a major tournament phase, and the result against Senegal begins the path toward a group stage that is more forgiving than the old 32-team setup.
For France, the opening night was about more than the scoreline. It was the start of Deschamps’s final World Cup run, a first response to Spain’s favorite label, and the first step in a competition where advancing from third place is easier than it used to be.
