Qatar 2022 World Cup: Analysis of Group D – Favourites and talents to watch out for

My Football Facts ⇒ Articles | 2022 World Cup Predictions

By Martin Graham | 31st Oct 2022

Our analysis of the FIFA World Cup groups now shifts it’s focus to the group the current World Champions have been drawn. France have been placed in Group D alongside, Denmark, Tunisia and Australia.

Our articles as always offers to keep you updated and abreast with everything you need to know about the World Cup. We also offer betting tips such as the odds for France to win the World Cup.

The last edition of the tournament saw France put up magnificent performance after magnificent performance in a run that saw them largely unbothered. Their show of dominance in Russia culminated in an impressive 4-2 dispatching of Croatia. Truly, Le Bleus had no equals in 2018.

Four years later, the defending champions France still boast of arguably the best array of talents on the planet. Their talent level runs so deep that the players who could potentially miss the tournament will still be better and have more quality than some the National teams that will be going to Qatar. Most importantly, the core of players that won them that title are still very much around for their next adventure In Qatar where they could make even more history.

Denmark will have the support of nearly every Oi one at the World Cup. After the near unfortunate incident that befell key midfielder Christian Eriksen at the Euros, their run during the tournament and beyond as seen them garner support from the footballing community worldwide. The Danish have shown that they are good enough to stand toe to toe with the best teams on the planet and will be tipped to make a deep run come November.

Tunisia are one of the best countries in African football. Though they suffered a shock exit at the quarter finals at the African Cup of Nations, they will be prepared to bounce back in Qatar.

Australia had to fight through the intercontinental playoffs to make it to the tournament that they have been regular participats of. The Socceroos definitely are not here to make up the numbers.

Who are the favorites?

Les Blues are huge favorites to win the group by some margin. The World Cup holders will have arguably the deepest squad of quality individual players in the tournament at their disposal which makes them very difficult to beat over 90 minutes. There are so many stars on this team that are amongst some of the best in the world in their position and evidence of that is Karim Benzema. The 34-year-old won the Ballon d’Or to solidify himself as the best player in the world right now. Kylian Mbappe is a player tipped to win many of those in less time than Karim Benzema and is already not too far away from that honor. A second World title and strong performances will definitely make him one of the frontrunners for sure.

Denmark are seen as favorites to finish second place according to most bookies. The Scandinavians have seen their stocks rise over recent years with brilliant performances and results, with superstars such as Christian Eriksen, Martin Brathwaite and Mikkel Damsgaard are waiting to shine in Qatar.

Tunisia are also quite formidable themselves. They’re a unique African team at the world cup because a lot of their players play on the African continent, North Africa to be precise. A good performance from their national team and particularly those players with see the stocks of domestic football on the continent rise. Wahbi Khazri and co will hope to fly the flag of the continent high in Qatar.

Australia are perhaps on equal grounds with their North African counterparts, Tunisia according to the odds from most bookies. They barely made it to the World Cup but they should not be underrated.

The odds for each team according to the bookies are as follows;
France (2/5)
Denmark (3/1)
Tunisia (16/1)
Australia (16/1)

Who can advance to the next round?

Based on the odds listed above France and Denmark are huge favorites to advance to the next round. The French team are not just huge favorites to advance but also favorites to win the group. The World Cup is also full of surprises but it would hardly surprise anyone if either of both sides top the group as expected. However, we can not afford to underrate sides like Tunisia and Australia. Both teams have little or nothing to lose so they are expected to go all out and express themselves.

France has also been dodgy of recent, despite the huge bank of quality available to the manager Didier Deschamps, the World champions were knocked out of the UEFA Nations league with relative ease. They could only win one of their six Nations League games. They might also be wary of the World Cup Champions curse that has become a trend of late since the turn of the century.

However, the sentiment of the bookies is that they still have enough fire power to do overcome the challenge of Denmark, Tunisia and Australia.

Who are the best Players?

Group D comprises of countries with outstanding players with Les Blues unsurprisingly the nation with the highest volume of talented players. The likes of Kylian Mbappe, Karim Benzema, Antoinne Griezmann and Raphael Varane lead the star names. While for Denmark we have Manchester United midfielder Christian Eriksen, Mikkel Damsgaard and Simon Kjaer lead the Scandinavian vikings.

Tunisia have far less star power than the previous two teams and have their star men in former Sunderland forward Whabi Khazri and Yousef Mskani. Australia are also modest in quality and can boast of former Arsenal man Matthew Ryan and Martin Boyle

Talents to watch out for

France

Eduardo Camavinga: The Real Madrid midfielder is seen as the future of French football, he plays far above his age and we will keenly follow his development.

Denmark

Mikel Damsgaard: The 22-year-old Brentford winger will be the looking to continue his great form for Denmark in Qatar

Tunisia

Hannibal Mejbri: The Manchester United youngster will be eager to make his mark for his country come November and take the good form for Birmingham City where he is on loan to the World Cup and make his mark for his country.